The Potter Games
by Ryah Ignis
Summary: Three years ago, Harry Potter was defeated. Now Voldemort heads a new regime. The Muggle governments are crumbling and soon he will lead them too. Harry and his friends must participate in the Potter Games, putting strong friendships and blossoming romances to the test. One victor will be left to pick up the peices and fight for the rest of the Wizarding World's freedom.
1. Part One: Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I did not write Harry Potter. If I did, I would be in Hawaii right now. I also did not write Hunger Games; otherwise I would be at an autograph signing and chatting with my fans.**

Lily shuffled in with the rest, disgusted that the Great Hall would be used for such a purpose. The place where Dumbledore had once stood was occupied by Dolores Umbridge. She smiled sweetly at the crowd, who did their best to glower back. The former Hogwarts students packed into the Great Hall. Their families stood outside in the Entrance Hall or on the grounds staring at the Muggle screen that had been erected specifically for the event. The students' terrified faces would be projected on to that screen in just a few minutes. Lily wasn't quite sure how many times her name had been entered in the Goblet of Fire. She also wasn't sure she wanted to find out.  
The scoring system was thus: Three entries for being a half-blood, five for being a Muggleborn. Allegiance to the Order of the Phoenix added and additional ten entries. D.A. members were given seven entries. House also mattered in this crazy game. Ravenclaws got three, Hufflepuffs five, and Gryffindors seven. Then there were also "treasons" committed against the Dark Lord before and after his resurrection three years ago. The amount of entries was based off of the severity of the crime.

Lily shook her head and gazed up at the Goblet again. Three years ago it had been a symbol of fun and good times to come. Now it spelled out the doom of twenty-four students that didn't deserve it. Lily shook her head and wondered what could have been done to prevent this.  
~~~

Jessie Weasley could not believe that only three years ago everything had been all right. Harry had been in the Triwizard Tournament; Cedric Diggory hadn't been dead. It had been that ill-fated night of the Third Task that had ended it all. When Harry had touched the Triwizard Cup with Cedric, they had been transported to the Little Hangleton graveyard where Lord Voldemort, then a powerless nothing, waited. He had returned. Keeping Harry prisoner, he had proceeded to take over the entire wizarding world in two months. The takeover had been complete only days before Jessie had been due to return to Hogwarts for her fourth year.  
It was quite pathetic how little time it took, really.  
Jessie's fourth year had never occurred. She and all the other wizards and witches had been locked up in Azkaban and other makeshift prisons all over the country. Their blood statuses and jobs had been determined in the year that would have been her fourth while the Death Eaters created a city of sorts surrounding Hogwarts. When the time for their release had come, they had been sent to homes assigned to them. The rules were simple. A family lived together. Once a child reached their eighteenth birthday, they moved out into a two room flat until they were married. Muggle-borns were not permitted to marry, and purebloods always married purebloods. No one could ever leave the complex or socialize with Muggles. It seemed as though rebellion was hopeless.  
That hadn't stopped Neville Longbottom.  
He had started a revolution that he called Dumbledore's Army. Even though none of the civilians had wands, he had attempted to stop Voldemort with a small group of teenagers. The Dark Lord hadn't retaliated until today. The Reaping.

Brook Parkinson looked around the Great Hall with the same mixture of despair, homesickness for the Hogwarts she had once known, and fury that it always made her feel. Voldemort had truly won the day everyone gave up. The day Neville and the others had been punished with the announcement of the Potter Games. But this…this was a slap in the face!

As soon as everyone was assembled, Umbridge began.  
"Welcome, welcome to the very first annual Potter Games!"

An eleven year old in front of Brook began to cry silently. Brook pulled her close. Even though she didn't know the girl, it was important that they all stayed strong together to let Voldemort know he _hadn't _won. He hadn't fully broken them. He never fully would.  
Brook cast her gaze around, looking for the namesake of the Games. There! Harry Potter was surrounded, as he always was, by no less than four Death Eaters. Hatred bubbled up inside Brook. What could he possibly do? He didn't have a wand! He was lucky to be alive, but Brook got the feeling that Voldemort had kept him simply for this moment. To see his friends die around him. Despite all this, Harry was glaring defiantly at Umbridge. Brook didn't want to think about how many times his name had been entered in the Goblet.  
"I will read the name of the tribute. If there is a volunteer, I will take him or her, unless the student in question is unable or does not want to take a volunteer," Umbridge said.  
She stepped forward, a golden locket glinting proudly on her chest in the sun. One ringed hand reached out and a flare of blue fire shot forth from the Goblet. Umbridge reached out and seized it, a look of sick pleasure crossing her face.

"Luna Lovegood!"

Luna made her way through the crowd, her face as serene as always. The other students eyed her warily, half of them looking at her as if they were calculating her chances, the other half leaning away as if she had the plague. Brook hated to think it, but it was unlikely that the peaceful blonde girl would survive for long among bloodthirsty tributes.  
"I volunteer as tribute!"

The crowd parted once more for Neville, who stood clutching a small golden coin in his fist.  
There was a high pitched laugh from the mentors' table. Bellatrix Lestrange had stood up, a wicked grin on her face.  
"So the drama begins! What say you, Miss Lovegood?"

Luna's large eyes widened farther and she thought about the awful choice: die, or let someone die for her.  
"I don't think so, Neville,"

Umbridge gave a gleeful toadlike smile as the next name was spat forth from the Goblet.  
"Romilda Vane!"  
The small witch looked up in surprise as she was pushed forward. She regained her composure quickly though, and curled a lock of dark hair around her wand.

"You're going down, Lovegood!"  
Umbridge plucked another name from the air with undisguised glee.

"Ronald Weasley!"  
"NO!"

The shout was from Ginny, Fred, and George. They ran forward to grab Ron, but Hermione beat them to it. She threw her arms around Ron's neck and kissed him for a long moment until a Death Eater pushed her away. Ginny pulled the sobbing witch to the side.  
"I volunteer!" both twins shouted.

Fred and George turned on each other.

"I'm going in!" they snapped together.  
"I'm not going to let you do this!" they said.

They were already too late. Umbridge was already reaching up for the next victim's name.  
"Draco Malfoy!"

There was a gasp of surprise from the group assembled in the hall. Even though there were rumors about Slytherin's names being entered, no one had actually expected one to get picked.

Draco stepped forward, looking white as a ghost. The dais was crowded now. Malfoy looked to the crowd almost pleadingly.

Brook felt a twinge of sympathy for the blonde Slytherin. The friends he'd thought he had wouldn't volunteer for him.  
"Harry Potter!"

Thought they had all known it was coming, it still shook the crowd. The Boy Who Lived was going to die. Umbridge smiled sweetly at the announcement she had made. She had never even met the boy, but she was horrible enough to like it anyway.  
Harry stepped forward, with a grave expression.  
"No! NO!" Ginny shrieked, bounding forward. Hermione stopped her just in time, otherwise she would have kicked Umbridge into next week.

"I volunteer as tribute!" Hermione wailed thickly through her tears. She and Ginny clutched each other, both nearly hysterical. Brook could not blame them. Hermione's two best friends were going in the arena without her.

"Mr. Potter is not allowed volunteers, and by his noble streak would probably not take you in his place anyway," she said coolly.

Umbridge grasped the next name.  
"Brook Parkinson!"

The world fell away.

Jessie and Lily met up in the middle of the crowd of Weasleys heading for the dais. Fear thudded in Jessie's chest. Maybe it was the fear that spurred her into action.  
"I volunteer!"

"No!" Ginny whispered franticly, her tear stained face inches from Jessie's own. "Losing Brook is like losing a sister, but losing you-"  
"-Is losing a sister. I'm going!" Jessie hissed.

She had finally made it to the dais.  
Brook looked down at Jessie's face. Jessie could tell she knew that Brook could tell that for Jessie, watching Brook die would be worse than dying herself. She stepped down and Jessie took her place next to Harry.

~~~  
"Percival Weasley!"

Brook felt shock ripple through her. The Games were for those under twenty.  
"He's not even eligible!" shouted Ginny, standing up to Umbridge.  
The awful woman smiled again.

"We can make an exception"

"I volunteer!"

Brook stepped up, ready to repay Jessie.

"Lily Malfoy!"

Lily had a feeling that this would happen. Despite her very best efforts during the year that they had been imprisoned, they had still found out about Sirius. So, she was chosen. Jack volunteered immediately, but she turned him down.

Umbridge continued.  
"Cho Chang!"

Cho's face went white at once. The whole crowd knew that she wouldn't take a volunteer if her life depended on it.

Unfortunately for her, it did.

"For Cedric!" she shouted, raising a fist in the air. The Death Eaters silenced her quickly, but her message was clear. They were not going to die in vain. They were going to die for the people they had already lost, like Cedric and Hagrid and the people that still lived.  
This message went unnoticed by the Death Eaters, though, so the Reaping continued. Lily squeezed her brother's hand underneath the table.  
"Colin Creevey!"  
The little Muggleborn, with his misguided courage still intact, stepped up to the platform, his face sheer determination. Dennis wailed, but didn't volunteer. Colin sent him a look, and he quieted, though the thirteen year old didn't seem happy about it.

"Clara Spite!"  
"No!" came the cry. Lily watched as Shaun, one of her best friends in the world, dashed up to the platform like a madman to save his girlfriend. Clara shook her head, wordless. Her face was stained with tears, but she wouldn't kill him to save her own life. Shaun still tried to get to the platform, but Lily pushed him gently away. She would never forget the haunted look on his face.  
"Pansy Parkinson!"

A second gasp swept the crowd as yet another Slytherin was thrown into the arena. Pansy looked shaken as she joined Malfoy. Doubt was written all over her face, but she did her best not to show it.

" George Weasley!"

"GEORGE!"  
Fred latched himself firmly to his twin's arm and hung on like he was on a broomstick in a hurricane.  
"I can't let you do this!" George said, attempting to shake him off.  
"I can't be alone!" Fred shouted.  
It was only then when Lily realized what they were arguing about. Neither twin wanted to be left alone. Each would rather die than go on without the other.  
"It's my decision!" bellowed George.  
Both of them stood on the brink of losing it entirely as they stared at each other.  
"Let me go in!" cried Fred.  
"I can do it!" both shouted as one.  
A Death Eater pulled them apart.

"No! George! GEORGE!"

Umbridge waved her wand and every person in the Great Hall was silenced. Fred was obviously still shouting on the top of his lungs.  
"Susan-"  
"-I volunteer!" Fred roared, flinging Susan Bones out of his way as he charged through the crowd towards his twin.

Susan looked confused, but relieved.

"Hermione Granger!"  
Hermione looked much better now that she knew she would die with Harry and Ron at her side without watching them die alone. She walked up with her chin held high, even shooting a nasty look at Umbridge.

"Neville Longbottom!"

Hannah Abbot promptly burst into tears as Neville walked up, brandishing his D.A. coin as though it were a sword to help him in the arena as he went.

"Ginny Weasley!"  
Ginny stalked through the crowd like a lion, her red hair only heightening the affect. She stood on Harry's right and slipped her hand through his. He looked at her with something that could only be described as pride.

"Vincent Crabbe!"

Crabbe looked completely indifferent as he stomped up to the dais. He seemed unaware, but the other tributes eyed him carefully, trying to figure out how best to defeat the giant.

"Gregory Goyle!"  
He too didn't seem to care that he was in a fight to the death with wizards and witches much more accomplished than himself.  
"Shaun Tonks!"

Lily looked sadly at her friend as he joined her on the dais. She'd given serious thought to the fact that she and her friends might die, but she'd never thought that they'd all get picked.

"Blaise Zabini!"  
The wizard swaggered up to the dais as if he owned the place. Lily glared at him. She'd never cared much for the stuck-up Slytherin, and the fact that she was in a fight to the death with him didn't help matters much.

"Cormac McLaggen!"

Another one of the overconfident types was chosen, though he looked slightly shaken.

"Moe Snape!"  
There was a loud gasp this time. Moe was the daughter of a highly ranked Death Eater. No one had even expected her name to go in the drawing. She was pale with terror, but she walked up without faltering.

"Jack Snape!"  
Again, there was shock throughout the crowd as they watched the sixteen year old push his way through the throng with a purposeful stride.  
Umbridge smiled at all of them.  
"Let the first annual Potter Games begin!"

Lily looked around at the group of tributes. She had no friends, no blood ties anymore.  
_Yes, _she thought ominously, _let the Games begin._

.


	2. Part One: Chapter Two

Day Two

Jessie knew who her mentor was. When she saw the line of unfortunate witches and wizards that had been drafted into mentoring, she knew it was Lee Jordan. He was one of the youngest of the lot, and quite frankly looked terrified. He hugged her tightly the moment they were within reach of each other.  
"How sweet!" snarled a voice behind them.

Alecto Carrow wrenched them apart with a simple flick of her wand. Jessie felt a slight pang of jealousy as she saw the twisted piece of wood. She hadn't carried a wand in three years, and she itched to rip it out of Alecto's fingers.

_I'm going to die anyway._

Jessie was ripped away from this grim thought by the list of tributes and mentors that appeared on the wall. Some of them were obviously hand-picked, like Shaun and his older sister Nymphadora, Lily and her father Sirius, Moe and her father, Jessie and Lee, Draco and his mother, Neville and his grandmother, Ginny with her mother, Fred with his father, George with Bill, Luna with her father and Cho Chang with her mother. This gave Jessie the impression that the tributes had been selected for a purpose, not selected randomly. However, others broke the trend such as Jack and Mad-Eye Moody, Brook and Professor McGonagall, Harry and Remus Lupin, Zabini and Carrow, Cormac and Mundungus, Crabbe and McNair, Goyle and Lestrange, Hermione and Flitwick, Ron and Kingsly, Pansy and Carrow, Romilda and Bellatrix, Colin with Slughorn and Clara with Padma Patil. Padma was young enough to be in the Games herself, for Merlin's sake! The mentors looked as horrified as the rest. Well, most of them anyway. The Death Eater mentors swept their respective tributes away faster than Jessie could say Nimbus 2001. The rest of the mentors followed in their steed, not wanting to draw attention to themselves or their tributes. In moments, the entire group had dispersed.  
"I can't believe you're going in," Lee told her as he led Jessie down the long corridor to the tribute room for her. Jessie shook her head.

"Better me than you,"

Lee looked around for the gray hallway to make sure that they were alone.

"We could leave, you know. Run to the edge of the border and never come back"

"We'd never make it five miles," Jessie replied sadly, wishing the corridor had windows. She could count on two hands the number of sunsets she had left, and she didn't want to miss even one of them.

~~~  
Meanwhile, Lily and her father sat in Lily's tribute room.  
" So what's the point of being a mentor?" she asked, cupping her hands around the standard gray cup with the dark mark on it. Sirius had surprised her with a completely out of character mug of tea.

"To get you out of there alive."

Lily looked at the tea and back at her father.

"Makes sense. Care to explain the games to me?"

The students, in Lily's opinion had not gotten an adequate explanation on their own death sentence. Sirius looked around the barren room which was so different from their homey, if not large, house by the edge of the border. To Lily's surprise, she and Sirius had been matched to live together.

"the Games are entertainment, for one thing. Appearantly there are Muggle cameras that take something called a video. You can see everything someone does. There are these things all over the arena. "

Lily looked completely aghast. This was nothing more than a game to the Death Eaters.

"second, they paln on doing them every year. Something to let us know that the Dark Lord's in complete control."

His face was disgusted. Lily looked down at her hands again.

"But what about a few years from now? The youngest that can use magic now are thirteen. What happens when no one in the arena knows how?"

The look on his face was plain enough, but Lily needed to know.

"They will fight like Muggles."

The plan from the very beginning was to get rid of all resistance. To do that, magic was forbidden. Once Voldemort and his followers were the only ones that could use magic, things would get worse. Lily didn't know how it could possibly get worse, but Merlin knows Voldemort would find a way.

" We're only going to be here for a bit," Sirius said, glancing down at the schedule. Lily heard him mutter something else under his breath, probably about how he hated schedules.

"You're allowed to take one thing with you into the arena."

Lily reached behind her head and unclipped the locket that had been her mother's.

"Can I take this?"

Sirius seemed to steel himself, then he nodded.

Jessie didn't want to think about the goodbyes. She and Lee walked down to the home that Jessie would have shared with her parents until her eighteenth birthday. Only Ron, herself and Ginny lived there now. In the next month, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley might be forced to move out because they no longer had children. Two Death Eaters were already outside the home.

"One hour for goodbyes," one said roughly.

Mrs. Weasley was the first person to hug her when she came inside.

"Jessie, Jessie," she repeated over and over. There were already tear tracks making their way down her face. She had probably already seen Ginny.

"One at a time."

The rest of her family was herded out until the only person left was Percy, awkwardly fiddling with his glasses while he tried to think of something he could say.

"I can't believe Brook did that for me. Give her my thanks, will you?" Percy asked, turning to his little sister. Jessie nodded. Sure she'd been brave when she volunteered, but now it was all she could do not to cry. Percy pulled her into a somewhat awkward hug.

"Percy, there's twenty four of us and only one comes out! How am I going to do this?" she added in a whisper.

Percy gave a long sigh and shrugged his shoulders.

Harry sat down on the small chair in front of Voldemort. He couldn't just leave. No. The Boy-Who-Lived had to endure taunting before he died. His life, even now, could never be simple. It was only his death that could be uncomplicated.

"What more do you want with me?"

Voldemort laughed. Harry barely repressed a shudder at the gleeful expression on his face. He didn't want to go through this anymore and this man—if you could call him such—knew it.

"I have been waiting for this moment for seventeen years, Harry Potter. You have given up!"

Harry wanted to argue with him, but then he'd be arguing with himself.

"It is over, do you not see it? 'The one with the power the Dark Lord knows not'" he snorted dismissivly.

Harry looked curiously at him. What was this power that he had that Voldemort didn't. He certainly couldn't think of any. He didn't have any weapons.

"If it's over, then can I go?"

Harry was sick of the gloating, the way Voldemort lorded over him because he knew that Harry couldn't fight back. He wished there was a way….

Brook wasn't quite sure who to expect when she went to the house she shared with her parents. Certainly not them; they were probably busy grieving for Pansy. The first person she saw was Oliver Wood, the Quidditch captain from her first and second years. Brook had met him when they had been assigned to the same job squad a year ago. They had become quite close. Next was Mr. Weasley, who looked exhausted.

"Molly's coming," he told her. "We're very…busy."

He had the expression of a man who had lost everything. He had, really. Five children. Professor McGonagall's hand tightened around Brook's shoulder. Brook looked back to see that the former Transfiguration teacher was blinking hard. Brook couldn't blame her. It was disheartening to watch families be ripped apart at the Reaping.

The goodbyes were over, and Neville Longbottom had a job to do. As a former revolutionary, it was his duty to rally the other tributes to do something. Once he got an idea of something to do, anyway. He quickly set about gathering the rst. Everybody but Harry, that is. His claim was that he wanted them to come down to dinner. He ran into Luna first, who was roaming aimlessly around the Astronomy Tower. She turned around after he came up the steps.

"I wish I could fly, don't you?"

She cast her dramy gaze out into the crystal blue sky. Neville wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

"If I could fly away, I would. I'd get Dumbledore and he'd make everything better. But I would leave, even if it meant leaving everyone else. Is that cowardly, Neville?"

"If you asked a Slytherin, they'd say self-preserving," Neville said with a hollow laugh.

"Thanks for volunteering for me, Neville."

"Look, Luna," Neville said distractedly, snapping out of his reverie, " Get some of the other tributes and meet back up here, okay?"

Luna looked seriously at him.

"You're planning something, aren't you Neville?"

"I'm trying to think of a way to show Voldemort that he doesn't own me."

It didn't take long for the tributes to show up. Neville was once again surprised by the efficiency in which Luna worked. Despite being lost in her own dream world most of the time, she knew how to work.

"Voldemort is putting us thorught this to break those on the outside. Look at Mrs. Weasley. She lost five children to him today, but I guarantee you she won't stop fighting. Look, though. I don't know when ther will be an uprising. If there will be an uprising, Harry will lead it."

"If he gets out alive," Luna stated wisely.

Everyone looked at her in amazement. Neville seemed to steel himself with a deep breath.

"Precisly, Luna. All of us…we all tried the first time around. But Harry is the only one that can start the fire that will burn throughout our world."

The words seemed to hang in the air. No one breathed.

"He's never—Neville, he's never going to stand for this."

Shaun still looked confused.

" What—"

"We have to die for Harry to live."

The crowd stood perfectly still. Fear didn't show on anone's face.

"But what about Malfoy and the others?" called Ginny. She didn't look scared, only mildly impressed that Neville had come to this conclusion and had the courage to voice it.

"I didn't think they would come…so, before we-we sacrifice ourselves, they have to…"

"But what if we all die and someone takes Harry out?" asked Colin

Neville sighed deeply.

"We just have to make sure that doesn't happen, Colin. If it does, we fail. Simple as that. We fail and the wizarding world goes through another Potter Games and another until our descendants won't have the will to fight anymore."

Everyone sensed that Neville was done, so they filtered out until he was the only one there. He watched the sunset from the tower, annoyed that he hadn't found the spectacular view sooner. He had the air of an old man looking out for the last time.

"Are we ready?" he asked the sky.

If they weren't, it was all over.


	3. Part One: Chapter Three

**Hello! I'd like to thank Abbl2 for reviewing! Sometimes I think you know more about my story then I do! I have gotten many favorites on this story, but you know what's coming next. There is a button at the end of this story and it's blue. Click it, and wonderful things happen!**

Harry eyed the suit with revulsion. It was ridiculous to spend this much time promoting the tributes. After all, twenty-three of them were going to be dead in the next week anyway. He wasn't sure he could face it. Everyone expected him to win. He'd defied death multiple times already, but Voldemort would throw everything his way to destroy him.

"Why now?" he muttered.

Remus looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Why would he kill me now? Why not in the graveyard? Why not in the million times he could have in the past three years?"

"He's doing what all dictators do. Squashing hope in the slowest, most defeating manner possible. This is how it ends."

Harry examined the tie a bit closer. It wasn't much to his liking, but he knew one that would be. He walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out the Gryffindor tie that he had kept for years.

Lupin, for the first time in weeks, smiled.

There was a float for each house, Draco noted, feeling sick. On his float, Jack, Zabini, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle and Moe. A large group for the favored house. Draco knew that the people sitting around him were the most dangerous that would be in the arena. Bravery, loyalty and smarts were all well and good, but not in a fight to the death. No, it was his fellow Slytherins that he'd have to keep an eye on. It wasn't safe to trust, that much he knew. He'd be going into that arena and never looking back, not for Pansy, not for anyone. Alliances were never a good idea.

"The tributes of the very first annual Potter Games!" cried Umbridge gleefully.

The float began to move through the crowd. Dead faces stared back at them. Not one person moved. They hardly seemed to breathe. They were more grim and defeated than ever. Silence. No cheers, or even boos. The Dark Lord would not be happy about that.

Then a child of about eight years walked forward with her back straight and her head held high. She raised her hand. It was a simple gesture that usually accompanied a funeral. In the old days the girl's small fist would have held a wand. The rest of the crowd followed suit. Hundreds of hands rose until it was impossible to distinguish which arm connected to which person. The little girl smiled almost imperceptibly and shrank back into the crowd. The group held their hands up as a way of saying goodbye to all but one.

Draco turned his head to the scarlet and gold adorned float.

Harry Potter looked proud as always, but his face was broken. Draco knew what he had to do, but that didn't mean he liked it. He was a Slytherin, after all, and he didn't know if he could do it when the time came, but the Boy-Who-Lived would have to live on.

In the training center, Harry found himself to be the center of most of the trainers' attention. They couldn't wait to see what he could do. He surprised them all by simply heading to a Muggle fire-lighting station. He was reminded of Mr. Weasley there, lighting the campfire for what had ended up being the last Quidditch World Cup.

"Harry!" boomed a loud voice.

A man who looked rather like a walrus waved a pudgy hand over by the potion making center.

"Would you like to join me?" he asked, waddling over and clamping a trunk-like arm over Harry's shoulders so he couldn't have escaped even if he had wanted to. Though Harry wanted to protest that the arena wouldn't likely have any cauldrons in it, the man steered him over.

"The name's Horace Slughorn," the man introduced himself, finally freeing Harry from his tight grip.

"Harry-"

"-Potter, yes. I taught your mother, you know and," he said, lowering his voice to a shout, "she was one of my favorites. Of course I shouldn't have favorites as a professor, but I couldn't help myself. All that raw talent shouldn't go to waste. No, your mother was exceptional. I remember when she made that Sleeping Draught on the first go. Absolutely splendid…"

Harry sighed and sat back to hear about the mother he had never known.

Lily set out at once for the dueling and protective spells center. She had never had much talent for this sort of thing; birch wands never did. She'd never been in a real fight before, and the Potter Games were not a good place to start her dueling career.

Bellatrix, despite being a mentor, was teaching this one. Romilda Vane watched every move with a hungery expression on her face. Lily made a mental note to watch the young Gryffindor. Lily noticed that most of the tributes were shying away from this particular station. With good reason to. Crabbe was shooting Avada Kedavra at a target labeled Dumbledore.

While it was cheering that the former headmaster had escaped the fate that a good many of his friends such as Hagrid had been resigned to, Lily wondered why he hadn't done anything yet. Surely he could whip up some highly advanced spell, destroy the border, take the castle by storm and defeat Voldemort! Though, being a Ravenclaw [the majority of who were pessimistic] Lily had given up hope.

Training passed quickly for Hermione. Perhaps it was the knowledge of how much time she had left that she noticed time's passing. She watched the sunset and sunrise every day, trying to appreciate as much beauty as she could. Who knew what kind of advanced magic she hadn't got a chance to study could control things like the sun in the arena? The tributes that had come to Neville's dismal meeting worked with renewed, but grim, vigor. They were futilely trying to get high training scores to outrank Harry on the Slytherin's hit list.

_Well, _thought Hermione savagely as she pummeled a dummy she pretended was Voldemort, _at least we're not going down without a fight._


	4. Part One Chapter Four

The tributes were marched down to wait outside the Great Hall. They were waiting to receive their training scores. No one seemed to be meeting Harry's eyes.

"Hope they're higher than our O.W.L. scores, eh Fred?" asked George with a wink.

Harry shook his head. Even in the most desperate of situations, the Weasley twins still managed to keep up their jokes. He would not want to be on the receiving end of whatever they were planning for their meeting. Harry looked over at Ginny, who had stood determinedly away from him the second they had gotten there. She was barely masking a grin as the twins began singing the school song to their traditional funeral march.

"Accurate," Ron said drily.

Then he joined them.

"Well, it's not as if we have that much more time with fun," Hermione added with a sigh. She began to hum.

Harry felt a surge of pride for his friends that hadn't given up. Within moments, a good sized potion of the group was singing along too.

"Why don't you just sing Kumbyah then?" Draco spat in disgust.

The song stopped abrubtly.

"Great idea!" exclaimed Fred.

"Yeah, thanks. I don't know where we'd be without you," George said sincerely.

As the somewhat cheerful singing continued, Malfoy sneered at the lot of them. Name after name was called.

"Harry Potter?"

Harry wanted nothing less than to walk into the Great Hall. He didn't need another reminder that he had failed. Still, it wasn't as if he could defy what he had been told. He walked in. Voldemort and his followers were seated at the teachers' table at the front of the room where the Goblet of Fire still stood. Harry walked over to the dummy, careful to avoid the boggart that was in the corner. The last thing he needed was for Voldemort to know what scared him the most. He narrowed his eyes and sent a barrage of spells at it. The different colors of light were like a fireworks display he had once seen from the window on Boxing Day while the Dursleys went to see them up close. The colors varied, from fuchsia to turquoise, but not one blast was green. This fact was not lost on Voldemort. Harry ended the impressive magical display of one who had only four years of magical training under his belt with a Patronus. The silver stag galloped around the Great Hall, pausing to huff in Voldemort's face. Harry grimaced; he hadn't made it do that.

"Come closer," Voldemort ordered.

Harry walked forward, keeping his eyes trained on the red ones that burned into his own. This was a mistake, but he didn't know it until the Cruciatus Curse hit him for what must have been the thousandth time. Voldemort hadn't cursed him. Bellatrix had, judging by her sadistic laugh. The worst part of it all was that he couldn't fight back, just like the previous nine hundred ninety nine times.

Fred walked in to the Great Hall with his head held high. At the table were Bellatrix Lestrange, Walden MacNair, and the like. They didn't scare him. What did, however, was Voldemort. His pale, spiderlike fingers caressed the handle of his wand. He had the eyes like a cat's that Harry had always described and the slits for a nose. It was all well and good to insult him [he should know, as he and George had done it hundreds of times out of earshot of Death Eaters] but it was another thing entirely to face him one on.

Fred shook off the unnecessary fear and walked over to the fire-setting station, where he began to work with some wire. He set it up about halfway, and then bowed to the Gamemakers. They looked at him, utterly bewildered.

_Don't underestimate half the Weasley Twins! _Fred thought indignantly.

"One last test," Voldemort hissed.

Next to the sound of George's screams, Fred decided that this was the worst sound any human could make. He glanced up, and warning bells went off in his head at the sight of Bellatrix's gleeful face.

"Crucio!"

He went down on his knees within moments, but when he tried to get to his feet, he lost his balance in a new wave of pain and fell over. He curled intoj a ball and waited for it to end. Just went he thought the pain of it would kill him, it stopped. He inched to his knees and struggled to his feet.

"Tell no one what went on here."  
In another life, Fred would have said: "What are you going to do—kill me?" This was now. So instead, he meekly exited the room.

George noticed the ghost of pain on his twin's face.

"Fred, what—"

"George Weasley?"

George walked into the training area. Fred's job was done well, so nothing had stopped him from completing it. George's fingers moved swiftly and deftly over the invention. In two minutes, he had assembled it. Giving Voldemort a mock salute, he fired the rocket.

The sound of an explosion came from inside the training room. Fred cracked a small grin.

_Well, this is sure to be interesting, _Ginny thought wryly.

She resisted the urge to fling open the door. George got to it first, and took a bow to general applause. Zabini and Malfoy narrowed their eyes.

"I'm guessing that you are not number one on the Gamemakers' list now."

"Oh, I don't know. We might be at the top of their hit list," Fred suggested. "Besides, we gave them—what's the phrase?"

"Gave them their just deserts," George laughed.

"Besides, what are they going to do?"

"Kill us?"

Ginny opened her mouth, then closed it again. No response to the unusually grim statement came to mind.

"What exactly did you do?" asked Brook curiously, craning her neck to get a better view of the ash stained faces of the twins.

Fred and George shared an identical malicious grin.

"We shot a firework at the Gamemakers!"


	5. Part One: Chapter Five

Jessie looked at Lee Jordan for the last time. To make things worse, there was glass between them. Jessie watched him silently. No sound could penetrate the barrier between them. His lips moved to form something, but Jessie missed it because the platform was rising. On the ground, Lee's last 'I love you' died on his lips.  
000  
Xenophilius Lovegood had never looked more worn and upset than he did in that moment.

"Come home, Luna, please," he begged his daughter.

Luna bit her lip, not wanting to tell him about the plan that required her to die, the plan that she was going to follow. He would be alone again…

"I'll try, Daddy," she lied.

She'd never lied to him before, but these games were changing her. She couldn't see the wrackspurts and the heliopaths anymore. So Luna Lovegood, the girl who saw strange creatures behind every corner, who had spent years of her life under Voldemort's reign, stepped into the glass and prepared herself.  
000  
"Mum," Ginny said hoarsely, her voice breaking.

Mrs. Weasley swept her into a bone-crushing hug. Tears were sliding down her cheeks into the back of Ginny's robes, but Ginny pretended not to notice; her mother was trying to be strong for her sake.

"Stay true to yourself, Ginny," her mother ordered gently.

"Mum, it would take much more than Voldemort to change this Weasley."

The arms around her chest grew tighter as mother and daughter rocked back and forth together.  
000  
Professor McGonagall took the opportunity to tell Brook one last thing before a death eater shoved her away.

"I know what you're doing," she breathed, "and I think it's very brave. You've made Gryffindor House proud, Brook."

Brook smiled wryly as the last praise of her favorite professor vanished. The platform began to rise.

_I won't back down _she promised silently.  
000  
Harry reached forward to shake Lupin's hand, but the other man pulled him into a hug.

"You've faced a lot of things before this. I'm willing to bet that you're better equipped than most of the others, and—"

"Remus?" interrupted Harry. "You do realize that I don't really want to win this if I have to go on alone?"

"You're so like your father," Remus laughed. "Until we meet again, Harry."

Harry smiled ruefully as he stepped into the canister.

_Until we meet again. Riiight. _|  
000  
Ron stood awkwardly in front of Kingsly, unsure how he was supposed to be dealing with this. His other siblings were no doubt exchanging tearful good byes with their mentors, but Ron had no idea what to say.

"Your father told me to tell you that he's proud of you for staying strong, and he hopes that you don't try to get revenge on Fred for the "spider incident" whatever that means."

Ron chuckled, half out of humor and half out of dreadful nerves. He hadn't been this nervous since Harry had gone into the maze!

"Well, thanks," he said, stepping into the tube.  
000  
Moe's father had never been one for sentimental good byes, and Moe certainly didn't expect one now. He gripped her shoulders more tightly than ever before, and began to speak.

"Die proudly," Snape said.

"Gee, thanks," Moe said sarcastically, though there was a gleam of good humor lighting her eyes.

Still, she nodded, hoping she would somehow fulfill the last thing he had ever asked of her.  
000  
Cormac McLaggen reached a meaty hand out to Mundungus Fletcher.

"We've had a good run, haven't we?"

"Now don't be goin' all sentimental on me, McLaggen. I have sixteen Galleons runin on you and you know I don't like to bet."

McLaggen raised his eyebrows, but Mundungus waved him off.

"Go on now, go!"

So he stepped into the glass.  
000  
Neville stared at his grandmother.

"Well, I guess this is it."

She sighed, the vulture swaying on her hat.

"I have never been more proud of you, nor have I ever wanted to stop you from doing something more. If I could bash in that stupid, ugly snake face of his right now, I would!"

Noticing that the color was draining slowly from her grandson's face, Augusta turned around. A very angry Death Eater glared at her through the slits in his mask.

"Oh come on, silver face, don't tell me you haven't wanted to say it once or twice! You just don't have the guts!"

Just then, the platform began to rise. Neville cracked a smile, because the last way he saw his grandmother was the way he always had.  
000  
"Well, Miss Granger, good luck," Flitwick said, mopping his eyes with a small handkerchief. "I still haven't forgotten that one hundred and twelve percent back in your first year. I said to Minerva that day that you' d go so far, but it looks as if fate has another plan in mind."

"You mean Voldemort has another plan," Hermione replied shrewdly.

"Yes, he had been playing with all of our fates, hasn't he?"

"Don't get too cosmic on me here, Professor."

"Of course not. Go on before I really start crying. Weeping in front of a student! What has this world come too?"

Hermione shook her head disbelievingly and stepped into her "fate."  
000  
Shaun let go of his sister and stepped into the tube. She looked awful, ill. Black hair, in mourning, about as far removed from her normal bubblegum pink as she could get. Shaun gave her a nod and changed his hair from brown to pink. His message was clear: _Don't give up._  
000  
Colin smiled at Horace Slughorn, looking rather lost without his precious camera in his hands.

"Bye, I guess."

"Good luck, my dear boy, good luck. I have confidence in you!"

Colin raised his eyebrows, but getting no response, stepped into his tube.  
000  
Lily looked at Sirius for a long moment.

"Your mother would be proud of you," he said simply before Lily was shoved into the tube.

Lily nodded and willed herself to be brave, to be strong. It wasn't in her nature to think like that.

"Bye," she mouthed, swallowing hard.  
000  
Jack eyed Alastor Moody, willing him to say something. Anything! Jack had never understood why he was the only one with a mentor he barely knew. All right, Cormac had it bad, and Romilda did have Bellatrix…but that was beside the point.

The great Mad-Eye Moody, auror and kidnapped Defense teacher opened his mouth to give advice. Jack leaned forward…

"Constant vigilance!" he snapped.

Jack sighed.  
000  
Fred had been known for his pranks and his cocky attitude. What the people who knew him only by his reputation would say if they saw him clutching his father like a first year not wanting to get on the train was beyond him.

"Keep Ginny safe, Fred."

"I'm not Fred, I'm George! Honestly, and you call yourself our father!"

"What? George, no you can't—oh this wasn't the time for this—"

"Only joking. I'm Fred."

The laughter of relief coming from Arthur Weasley bounced off the walls.  
000  
George and Bill hugged tightly.

"You are George, right?"

"You and Mum, always mixing us up!"  
Bill sighed, stepping back and letting him go.

"Stay true to yourself."

"That sounds like something Mum would say."

"That's because it was!"  
000  
Eighteen cries bounced around eighteen glass tubes as eighteen tributes watched their Resistance mentors go down from use of the Cruciatus Curse, and eighteen tributes fell to their knees in eighteen tubes and watched their mentors be dragged away. Eighteen tributes struggled to their knees and eighteen tributes vowed to fight.

**I'm back, with the chapter I am least pleased with. It's pretty awful if I do say so myself. Anyway, I promise the next chapters will be much better because we'll be getting into the games! *evil grin***


	6. Part Two: Chapter One

The sun glared in Jessie's eyes. The dark crimson tribute uniform with her name stenciled to the back in pale gold clung to her. A Gryffindor badge was patched to her chest. She knew this wasn't a matter of house pride, but rather a target. She tried to shield the glare with her hand, but the Cornucopia was unusually bright. With only roughly thirty seconds on the clock of the sixty they had to prepare themselves gone, Jessie was more nervous than ever. Lily stood directly across from her. The girl's usually peaceful face was cold and hardened.

The cannon sounded, and every tribute was on his or her feet. Ron took off for the woods while Hermione and Harry sped for the Cornucopia. Of course, they would be an alliance… Lily flew towards it, seemingly on winged feet. Jessie leapt up herself and narrowly missed a Muggle knife thrown her way by Blaise Zabini. Making a grim mental note to get him back later, Jessie ran in. She scooped a handful of wands randomly from the pile. Malfoy threw a killing curse at her head and she decided it was time to go. Jessie gathered up a bag in her arms and ran for it.

000

Brook took her mentor Professor McGonagall's advice and simply ran. With any luck, she'd meet up with Jessie, Lily or one of her other friends that would be willing to join an alliance.

"Luna!" came an anguished cry from behind her.

Ginny was kneeling beside the dreamy blonde girl. Awful wounds traced their way down her chest. Brook recognized the effects of Sectumsempra immediately from a demonstration that had killed Pomona Sprout two years ago. Ginny couldn't stay because a blast of green light from Crabbe hit the ground directly next to her, sending her flying in another direction. Brook raised a shaking wand hand, tears making tracks down her face as she shouted the words she had never wanted to speak.

"Avada Kedavra!"

000

Lily watched the others suspiciously. Only fifteen seconds until the end. She had written off the likes of Colin Creevey, who looked more scared than he ever had been. Jack stood next to him, his usually happy expression serious. Ten seconds. Why did Jack have to be in this? Nine seconds. Why did any of them have to be in this? Eight. What was she doing here? Seven. She wouldn't be brave enough to die! Six. It had better been fast. Five. _You could live_. Four. No, Harry had to go on. Three. _But what about_ Sirius? Two. He'll survive. One. _I can't do this!_

Lily flung herself forward and dashed towards the satchel she had seen with a small bottle poking out of it. She was reasonably sure it was a bag of magical healing supplies. They would need it. Ducking a stunning spell, Lily managed to close her fingers around the bag's handle. She thought she saw one of the Weasley twins vanishing under the Cornicopia. Under? Lily didn't pause to find out how, but made her escape into the woods.

000

Heart pounding, Shaun flattened himself against a tree. He saw someone sprint by that didn't stop. The canon rang out five times. Shaun winced with every blast, wondering if it was a dear friend lying motionless by the site of the bloodbath. The sun was still high in the sky, blinding him as he looked up as if he could already see the fallen's names written in the sky.

"Turn around slowly!"

The voice was empty of any warmth, and filled with desperation. Shaun turned, awaiting the ballast of green light that would end his life. It never came. Jessie tossed one of the many wands in her fist to him. Disappointment sliced through him as he realized that it wasn't his, but a nondescript silverish one.

"Alliance?" she asked, breezy tone back in her voice.

"I don't—"

"Look. We either make an alliance or there is one less player in this game."

Shaun gulped. He wasn't quite sure that Jessie would carry through with her threat, but he wasn't going to test her.

"Sure."

There was a crunching of dead leaves behind them as another contender, friend or foe, stepped into the clearing.

"Luna's dead."

Brook had spoken. Her face was stained with tears. She never cried…

"What happened?" asked Jessie, not even bothering to see if the girl was really Brook.

"It was Malfoy," she began with a sob. "He – he used sectumsempra on her and I couldn't—I just couldn't. How could I? I – I – I did it, Jessie"

Jessie seemed to have realized what had happened. She didn't cry, not fully, but something seemed to break inside her and she gasped slightly and wiped away a small tear.

Shaun still didn't get it. He pictured the scene. Malfoy – that pathetic, evil little insult to ferrets—standing over a bloody Luna, writhing on the ground. Brook, raising her wand and…but what did she do? It dawned on him so suddenly it felt like he'd been hit with the Hogwarts Express. Brook had used the Killing Curse to end Luna's—oh, not Luna—suffering.

Another pair of feet intruded the clearing, this time two pairs. Fred and George Weasley emerged from the foliage with identical grins on their faces. They held up two large backpacks stuffed with joke shop items and a bottle of something that looked suspiciously like poison.

"Alliance?" they asked as one.

Jessie looked pleadingly at Shaun and Brook. Though Shaun thought that it may be unwise to trust the Kings of Tricks, he did not want to be on the receiving end of whatever they were planning to do with that poison.

"How'd you get all that?" Jessie asked as if it was already decided.

"Hid under the Cornucopia," explained Fred.

"It was his idea. I thought we'd get killed, but—"

"—What's life without a little risk?"

There was yet another person entering the clearing. Lily; looking a little disheveled, but otherwise unharmed. She held up a satchel proudly.

"Healing supplies. Who's hurt?" she asked without even asking to join the alliance. It went unsaid when she had such valuable items in capable hands.

Fred and Goerge were a little burned from their encounter with the scalding Cornucopia. Lily passed them a burn cream and they began applying it to themselves.

"Where's Jack?" she asked mildly, distributing a potion to Brook for shock.

Silence. Lily reeled back. Shaun could see that she was grappling with the possibility that he was dead already.

All at once, the clearing grew dark. Without a sunset, the sun completely disappeared.

"Okay, when did the sun learn to Apperate?" George asked, but no one but his brother was interested in jokes right now.

The dark mark lit up the sky, and then the fallen tributes' faces were flashed across the sky with congratulations to whomever had killed them. Cormac McLaggen's was the first face shown. Lord Voldemort's voice echoed thorugh the arena, congratulating Blaise Zabini. Next was Luna's face, smiling serenely at the camera.

"Wonderful work, Brook Parkinson."

Brook groaned and buried her face in her hands. Colin Creevey had been killed by Pansy Parkinson and Cho Chang by Hermione.

000

Hermione Granger, the usually levelheaded brains of the trio, was curled in a small ball while Ron and Harry attempted to put up their tent. Ron finally went to comfort her.

"Hermione?"

"Leave me alone, Ron!"

"Hermione, listen to me."

He tilted her chin up to look at him. She jerked away.

"I killed Cho!" she wailed.

"And you were aiming for Zabini," Ron reminded her.

"Can't you see, Ron? It doesn't matter who that curse hit, just that I was able to produce it!"

Ron put and arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Harry joined and the trio was as connected as they always were.

"It's a shame that we don't have a lame motto like 'all for one and one for all'," Ron commented.

"Why?"

"Because now is the perfect time to do it!"

000

Sirius Black decided that he was not cut out for this kind of work. He would have traded places with his only daughter or godson in a heartbeat, and not only for their safety. He hated doing this, smiling for the cameras and the potential sponsers. They didn't care about his daughter or godson in the slightest.

"Hello, cousin."

Sirius gritted his teeth and looked determinedly away from Bellatrix. Any reaction and she would Cruciate him into next week. That was the last thing he needed right now. Of course, in a week, it would all be over, so maybe that would be nice…

"How's your dear daughter?"

Sirius didn't answer. He was not about to let her toy with him like this. Lily and the rest of her alliance hadn't been featured in a while. No news was always good news in the games. He looked towards Remus for support. He had been appointed Harry's mentor, and had been Sirius's rock throughout all of this. He gave Sirius a sharp look as if to say "Don't let her provoke you." _What, me? Never…_

To his right, McGonagall was watching desperately for her tribute, Brook. Molly Weasley was watching for all of her children, relieved that none of them had been killed in the bloodbath. Lee Jordan had taken Jessie, though he was young enough to be in the Games himself. Yet another article of proof that the Reaping had been rigged. Lee was glued to the screen, never once taking his eyes off of it, barely even blinking. He was Bellatrix's next target.

"How's Jessica?" she purred.

Lee seemed to be barely restraining himself.

_He's a smart one _Sirius thought.


	7. Part Two: Chapter Two

**There is a lot more OC centered action in this chapter, so if you have any questions about any of them, PM me.**

"Jessica" was, in fact, fine. Just hungry and ridiculously thirsty. The bag she had grabbed contained an empty bottle, presumably for potions or water. Neither Moe nor Jack, Snape's adoptive children, had turned up yet, so potions were out. Of course, they would only want Jack making a potion if they wished for a bomb. He was abysmal at Potions, making Neville look like a master. Moe, on the other hand had been fantastic at it.

Lily was attempting to turn a rock into a slice of bread. They had seen nothing in the way of food the entire one and a half days they had been there. Brook was perched in a tree, supposedly as a lookout, but she had been dwelling on Luna the entire time. They had paused for a short break after trekking through the dense forest. It was then that they got their first parachute.

Jessie's fingers closed around the strings. It was a large one. Jessie tore it open. A dead ferret lay limply in the box. Jessie dropped it with a small shriek.

"Why did we get a dead ferret?" she asked in confusion, stepping cautiously up to the animal as if whatever had killed it was still there. It would be just like Lord Voldemort to tell them that they were to be saved by the parachutes only to get killed by a poisonous gas or something.

The cry of surprise from Shaun scared them all. Jessie whipped her wand out in a defensive move.

"Hippogriffs like dead ferrets!"

Jessie relaxed. Lily looked up from the rock that now resembled a piece of bread, but most likely wouldn't taste like one.

"But that means that a hippogriff is—"

The all leapt to their feet, Lily abandoning her rock/bread and charged headlong into the woods.

It was after an hour of fruitless searching of the wilderness that they found it. This hippogriff was not Buckbeak in any way, with shiny, pale gold feathers. Unfortunately, there was already someone astride it. Brook barely had time to register the white-blonde hair before a streak of green light was headed towards Shaun. He dived out of the way. The rest of the group took shelter behind a boulder. All except Lily.

"Finally learned not to insult a hippogriff?" she asked casually.

The wand Jessie had given her was held loosely at her side, but Brook knew her friend well enough to see that her hand was tensed, ready to spring.

"If I were you, dear sister, I would duck behind that boulder," he replied coolly.

Lily surveyed him calmly, her fingers tightening around the handle of her wand.

"The problem with that threat, _brother_," she said scathingly. "is that I don't think you'll carry through with that threat."

Malfoy was visibly angry now, but he kept his voice quiet and dangerous all the same.

"You see, sister, there can only be one victor in these games. And I want it to be me. Unfortunately, that means you must die along with all of your friends cowering behind that rock.

"Let me at him, I'll rip him to pieces!" Jessie snarled.

"Oh, no, I think that hippogriff will do it for you," Fred said seriously.

Malfoy drew his wand. Lily didn't step back.

"With this ugly hipp—"

There was a horrible cry from Malfoy as he tubled off the back of the animal. He screamed as the hippogriff attacked him, claws slicing into his throat.

"Protego!" yelled Lily.

An invisible border expanded between her brother and the hippogriff. George raised his eyebrows as if to say 'I told you so.' Lily fell to her knees beside him. He was crying out in pain, each scream growing weaker and weaker.

"Help me," he whispered.

Lily looked close to tears, even though he had threatened to kill her only moments before.

"I can't do anything."

With one last strangled shriek, a cannon fired from somewhere in the distance. Lily rose to her feet and rejoined the others.

"One less challenger."

000

The cannon blast unnerved Harry, though he did his best not to show it. Hermione boiled some water with her wand to make it safe to eat while Ron gathered berries from a nearby bush. Harry had his suspicions that his best mate was eating more than he was gathering, but he said nothing. He might as well enjoy their last few days together.

"Who do you think that was for?" Ron asked.

Sure enough, his face was stained with berry juice. Harry stifled a laugh.

"I hope not someone we know—er, rather, like," Harry replied.

000

Neville stayed perfectly still, facing the dragon standing in front of him.

"Good dragon. Good dragon. Don't eat Neville. He doesn't taste very good," he said, backing up slowly.

The dragon huffed, a puff of smoke escaping its nostrils.

"Maybe we can talk about this," he suggested.

Still, he had die sooner or later. So Neville Longbottom made his final stand, yelling at the dragon.

"Hey, ugly!"

It snorted again, looking angry.

"Yeah, that's right! No nose! How could you do this to a bunch of kids? You're absolutely mad! You—"

He was cut off from the rant that was really against Voldemort by a blast of fire.

BOOM!

000

"Water!"

Jessie's hoarse shout roused Lily from the stupor she had been in. She wouldn't call it grief: he had ignored the warnings from years ago and paid the price. It was more like shock that a family member had died in the Games. Even though he had been the last person she could trust in the arena, she still missed him.

Jessie was on her knees beside the pond, drinking as much as she could. Fred and George shared a slightly devilish grin.

"We have a plan—"

"—but we needed to know that there was an alternative water source for it to work."

The plan had to wait, however, as the group descended on the water like birds of prey. After they had drunk their fill, Lily used a summoning charm on some fish and they cooked it. They were careful to use a Vanishing Spell on the smoke.

Almost on cue after they had finished eating, the sun vanished like it had the previous day and the Dark Mark appeared again. Two tributes today. Malfoy, his death being accredited to Lily and Neville, which caused quite a few gasps in the group.

They all tried to get some sleep on the forest floor, but none of them could. It was hours before they fell asleep.

"Ready, Fred?"

George shook his twin awake. Fred looked up groggily. He hadn't slept, but he had been drifting off.

"Ready as I'll ever be, George."

The pair stole out of the temporary camp.

"You realize that—"

"—We aren't coming back?"

For the first time in their shared lives, the two were dead serious. Fred's expression was somber, but George nudged him.

"We're on camera. Do you want to ruin our wonderful reputation, Gred?"

"Of course not, Forge."

They walked in silence for a few more minutes, but finally George couldn't stand it any longer.

"I reckon Neville was right, though," George pointed out as he pulled himself free of the clutches of a thorn bush.

"Mum's going to find us and kill us," Fred said with a hint of a laugh.

"She's watching right now! Hi, Mum!"

George waved, knowing that his mother would see. No other tributes were up and about, so it was guaranteed that they would be featured. Plus, nothing was more interesting than the Weasley twins when they were up to something. The twins neared the lake. Sure enough, Crabbe, Zabini, Goyle, Zabini, Pansy Parkinson and Moe lay near it, fast asleep.

"We regret this, Moe," they whispered in unison.

Fred uncorked the bottle of poison and poured it, hissing and steaming into the lake. The Careers would never know. They had counted on the Careers waking, but George was happy to see that they hadn't. Maybe they'd get out of here alive.

Then Zabini woke.

"Someone's here!" he shouted.

He raised his wand and a streak of green light hit Fred. With an inhuman roar, George flung every curse he knew at Zabini. This went on for quite some time because he knew a lot. Even so, he didn't realize that he'd been tricked until he heard Crabbe cackle behind him.

"Sorry, Mum!" he shouted.

Darkness.

000

The two cannon blasts woke Shaun. As it always did, an icy chill shot through him. What if it was Clara? Jessie proper herself up on her elbows.

"Where are Fred and George?"

These words snapped the others to alertness. The truth took a second to sink in.

"NO!" Jessie's voice screamed. "No. NO! _NO! _Oh please no."

The last sentence came out as a whimper. Lily sifted through her bag.

"Here."

Jessie took the bottle from her friend's hands and took a sip. Instantly she hit the ground. The rest of the group advanced on Lily for breaking the alliance, but she held up her hands defensively.

"She's asleep!" she told them.

Sleep didn't come as easily to the others.


	8. Part Two: Chapter Three

Moe was sick of Pansy's whimpers over Draco, Zabini's pompous manner, Crabbe's stupidity, Goyle's…well, stupidity, and the motionless forms of Fred and George in the woods, the dementors yet to collect them. That's why when she saw that the lake was poisoned (being the potion master's daughter and an expert on such things) didn't tell them. Instead she chose to watch as the group toasted the twins' deaths. The effects of the poison that had cost the Weasley twins their lives to place there were immediate. Pansy gave an earth shattering scream and fell over. She was dead before she hit the ground. The cannon rang out. Crabbe and Goyle were next and then Zabini. Moe raised her own goblet.

"To Fred and George!" she cried, tossing the poisoned water over her shoulder.

000

Ginny Weasley pulled the last of a branch over in front of her cave. If you didn't know her hideout was there, you wouldn't see it. Of course, it wasn't like Ginny had a second opinion, so she had to leave it as it was. She stepped back to admire her handiwork. Then she sat down inside, huddled up tightly. What was she going to do without Fred and George? Her twin brothers had been the best that she could have hoped for, and now they were gone. She cursed under her breath. She had to get to Harry.

000

That night, Moe stretched out on the sandy lakeside to watch the nightly presentation of the Dark Mark. Fred was the first listed, with Zabini given the credit. Next was George, killed by Crabbe. Pansy followed, Fred getting the "honor" Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle were also given to Fred. Moe drank the last of her water (of the non-poisoned variety) and set off into the woods to find some more, muttering about sponsor gifts and the stupidity of Voldemort.

**Sorry for the really short chapter, they'll be a bit longer, but not every day in the Potter Games is super eventful. Anyway,I'll be back with another update soon!**


	9. Part Two: Chapter For

It was time for the alliance to end. Only friends were left.

"Remember what Neville told us," Lily said tearfully, hugging Jessie tightly. "Harry has to live."

The group split up. Jessie and Brook went one way, Lily headed off to find Jack and Shaun went to see if he could find Clara.

It was about midday when Shaun heard a voice. Her voice. Her screams. He hurled himself into the undergrowth, towards the source, every part of him screaming with rage. Who would hurt her, a sweet Ravenclaw who wouldn't hurt so much as a fly? The answer came in the form of curly haired Romilda Vane, standing over her body. Dead body, because that was her cannon, but he couldn't be hearing this, he just _couldn't. _The Games were playing tricks on him. A howl of rage ripped through Shaun as he turned to face her murderer. Romilda smiled, sliding neatly out of a tree.

"Hello," she purred.

Shaun shot a Killing Curse at her. She danced away in another direction. Spell after spell was unleashed from his wand. None struck.

"You killed her!" he bellowed.

She cast Expelliamus at him and his wand was snapped beneath her foot.

Romilda laughed manically, sounding oddly like her mentor, Bellatrix. She shot a streak of green light at him. Shaun dodged it and grabbed her wand and it snapped. Shaun mentally cheered because they were on even footing again. What he didn't see was the blade up her sleeve, and the last thing Shaun Tonks saw was Romilda's face twisted in evil glee.

000

Boom! Hermione Granger knew what she had to do, even as the cannon blasted in the distance, signaling the death of another friend. The sphinx smiled menacingly at her, Ron and Harry. Since she knew that Harry would never let her die in battle, she had to get it done. Neville's instructions once again rang in her ears. If Harry was to get out alive, she would have to go.

"What is the end of forever? Not in infinity? The second thing to promise?"

It was obvious to clever Hermione, but she had to answer incorrectly. Even three years since she had left Hogwarts, the school and gone to Hogwarts, the compound, giving a wrong answer was still difficult.

"A lie," she stated calmly.

The sphinx attacked. Its claws bored into her and she knew this was the end. What could she do?  
"I'm sorry," she breathed.

Hermione was aware of Harry and Ron's cries as she sank into darkness.

000

Lily's pace quickened as she heard the cannon fire. There was a shout of "Hermione!" Then a second cannon fired.

"RON!" came the anguished cry.

Lily rounded the corner. Harry Potter was facing off against a sphinx. The prone forms of Ron and Hermione were on the ground.

"Leave now, human," the sphinx growled.

Harry didn't move a muscle. Lily seized her wand and entered the clearing. She grabbed a handful of Harry's robes and pulled him away.

"What in the name of Merlin were you _thinking_?" she hissed.

Harry, still straining against her to avenge his friends didn't answer.

"We're all risking our lives—no, giving our lives and you go and pick a fight with a sphinx?"

Harry stopped dead in his tracks.

"What?"

Lily could think of no way to tell him while sugarcoating it. She decided to give it to him straight out.

"Do you really think Luna would be dumb enough to die in the bloodbath?"

Harry flinched. Obviously Voldemort had gotten exactly what he'd wanted: Harry in pain with every friend that died. Lily released him when she was sure he wouldn't go after the sphinx.

"I'm sorry about Ron and Her—"

"—they died to save me," said Harry bitterly. "Which is what everyone does."

"You're the Boy Who Lived, not died! Of course their willing to die for you!"

A silver parachute fluttered form the sky. Lily opened it; it had her name on it. Inside, a loaf of bread, still warm. Lily breathed in the delectable scent.

"What an expense, Sirius," she told it sarcastically, though she got the message. Save Harry, get food.

"Do you have any?" Lily asked, motioning towards the bread. Harry picked his way gingerly over to his fallen friends. With the utmost care, he cradled Hermione's body as he turned her over to remove the pack that had ben strapped to her back. As Lily had suspected, the pack had been partially destroyed. Harry dug out as much as he could. Between him and Lil, they managed to extract and salvage a bag full of berries.

"Not many sponsors?" Lily guessed, looking at the meager supplies.

"Voldemort—"

Lily winced, and Harry shook his head exasperatedly.

"You know who, then. Anyway, he msut be cutting off most of our—I suppose now my—sponsor gifts.

000

Jessie and Brook trekked through the undergrowth. Brook had not wanted the alliance. If it came down to just the two of them… Essie had insisted. She had wanted Lily to come, but she had protested. It wasn't the decision that would save them.

They came upon a lake at the base of the mountain. A beautiful noise filled Brook's ears. She turned. The song was coming fron the island in the middle. Brook turned. Mrs. Weasley, a calm smile on her face, stood in the middle. Next to her, Oliver Wood. He grinned and waved at her.

"Jessie, look!"

Jessie looked as well. She saw Ron, Fred and George, and her parents. Bill and Charlie stood beside them and even Percy was there, wearing his usual superior expression. They all stood there but Ginny.

"It's your mum!"

Jessie looked at her friend in confusion.

"Just mum?"

Brook didn't answer. She was already knee deep in the surf.

"BROOK!"

Jessie splashed into the lake. Brook plunged under the water and was swimming like a fish towards the island. Instantly, the water started to heave. It pitched and rolled, throwing Jessie on to the pebbled beach.

"BROOK!"

Brook's brown head bobbed above the now choppy waves.

"BROOK!" cried Jessie for the third time.

She ran at the water. A wave crashed into her and sent her flying once again to the sand where she landed with a painful thump. Brook's head went under again.

"Brook! BROOK!" screamed Jessie. "Come back, oh please come back!"

Jessie's face was streaked with a mixture of water and tears. She looked through blurred vision for Brook. She did not resurface. Jessie slumped to the sand in defeat.

000

Lily and Harry's alliance was unspoken. That was the best in this part of the Games. Lily knew the second Harry saw Ginny, he would leave her. When Lily saw Jack, she'd leave Harry. It was as simple as that. The Dark Mark appeared in the sky. Lily sat down in the prickly undergrowth.

The first face of the day was Shaun's. Lily moaned and dropped her head into her hands. Harry stifled a cry at the sight of Ron and Hermione's faces.

000

Ginny, against her better judgment, was headed for the beach. She hadn't seen anyone else in the days since the beginning. She had to find Harry before this was over, and before it was too late. She bade good bye to the little cave and moved on.

**First of all, don't hurt me! Second, can any of you figure out the riddle that Hermione had to answer? I made it up, so it's not that good. As always, review. I've gotten over 700 veiws on this and only sixteen reviews. Thanks to all my reviewers!**


	10. Part Two: Chapter Five

**I'm back with a new chapter. The answer to the riddle in the last on was much simpler than you would think: the letter R. Not bad for my first riddle! Anyway, please review. I have ten followers and forgive me if I'm wrong but I think only two of them review. So, to save Harry and the rest of the tributes [for now, anyway] please reveiw!**

Jack Snape got a crackling fire going outside the cave in the mountains that he had been staying in. He had been there since the start of the games. He had a wand and a cave. He, too, had watched the night sky apprehensively for Lily's face. He didn't know if he could face her dying.

000

Unfortunatly, he might be getting his worst fear. Lily woke to the sound of large footfalls.

"Harry!" she hissed.

Harry jerked upright, clutching his scar with one hand and his wand with the other.

"Get up!"

Harry stood up and pulled Lily to her feet. The pair took off as fast as they could go.

"Mountain—troll," gasped Harry.

_Well, he would know _Lily thought, remembering the story that had quickly become Hogwarts legend.

"Remus! Now would be a good time!" Harry shouted. Lily narrowly avoided the roots.

"We have to get out of the woods before I trip!" she yelled.

Harry nodded his asset and changed their course to head for the mountains.

000

Remus Lupin readied the silver parachute. They were running, so he would have to send it at just the right time. Sirius stood next to him. He was wringing his hands and peering impatiently at the screen.

"Hurry, Moony," he pleaded.

Remus nodded tersely. He flicked a wand that wasn't his at the standard mentor issue at the package and it fell.

000

Harry grabbed the broom that had fallen from the sky. He pulled Lily on behind him.

"It's good for five minutes," he explained, glancing at the note.

"Five?" gasped Lily.

They took off. Lily stifled a moan as the ground dropped away. Her knuckles whitened around the handle of the broom.

"What's wrong?" Harry called, exhilarated and in his element.

He looked back at his companion. Lily was steadily turning an unattractive shade of green.

"I don't – I don't fly!" Lily shrieked, closing her eyes. He looked down at the handle of the broom. It was growing warmer beneath his fingers.

"Yeah, this could be a problem."

The tip burst into flames. Harry looked back at Lily, who now had her eyes squeezed even more tightly shut. Harry focused all his energy on guiding the broom to safety.

"Lily, look back to see if it's still following us!"

"Look back!" Lily yelped.

The broom hit the ground with a thud. A louder thud alerted them to the troll's presence.

"All right, we've tried flight. Now let's fight," Harry said.

Lily shook her head.

"No. Go now."

Harry retreated a few steps, but went no farther. The troll emerged from the trees. It blinked stupidly a few times, and then swung a large fist at Lily. Her shield charm knocked his hand sideways into the rock face. Lily edged backwards until she nearly backed into Harry.

"Stupefy!"

The jet of red light caught the troll between the eyes.

"Nice," Harry complimented.

Lily scowled at the wand.

"I was aiming for the ledge above him to crash down on—"

The troll's arm flew out of nowhere and caught Lily in the wrist. It snapped back and she lost her wand over the edge. Lily crumpled to the rocky ground, clutching it. A roar sounded from one of the caves. Harry whipped around, ready to confront two enemies at once while protecting his injured comrade when Jack burst forth and flung himself at the troll, wand outstretched. The troll swung his club at him, but Jack evaded it. He wrapped his arms around a trunk-like leg and began to climb the monster. The troll raised his club to swat at the nuisance.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry barked, but he was seconds too late.

The troll slammed into Jack, flinging him against the wall with a sickening thud. His cannon was instantaneous. Harry, however, was absorbed in moving the club. It found its mark and with a crunch, the troll staggered backwards and off the ledge and out of sight.

Harry knelt beside Lily. She was curled up in a ball against the mountain. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her wrist was tucked against her ribcage. Her breathing was harsh. Harry turned her over. A mixture of blood, tears and sweat coated her face. The small movement brought on a cry of pain. Harry's own palms, sticky with sweat, kept sliding on his wand. He had no idea what spell to use.

"Lily?" he ventured, wondering if she could hear him. One ear was coated in blood from her collision with the wall.

"The incantation's episky," she said through gritted teeth.

Harry gazed uncertainly at her wrist. Part of white bone was showing. Harry's stomach lurched.

"I've never done it before."

Lily raised her head a few inches to glare at him.

"I'd rather have an amateur fix than no fix at all."  
"Episky."

Lily gave a groan of relief as the bone righted itself and the skin went from a blotchy purple to the normal pale. She sat up and examined it. Her professional eyes picked out a small lump. She brushed a finger over it lightly.

"Amateur mistake," she explained.

Then her eyes fell on Jack. Her breath caught and she knelt beside him, kissing him on the forehead and slipping the wand from his fingers.

000

Brook's eyes filled with water, blinding her, even as her lungs gasped despertly for oxygen. She clawed towards the surface and succeeded. Air! She thought she heard Jessie screaming her name. The water acted unnaturally, puling her back under, forming a barrier between her and air. She cried out and a line of precious bubbles escaped. Strong arms gripped her. Brook writhed and thrashed despretly, but the hands were like iron. It took her a few moments to realize the pressure in her ears was decreasing. However, she had been underwater for too long. Red spots danced in front of her eyes. Her last thought was of her wand, which was slipping between her numb fingers.

000

Moe Snape flopped down on the ground in exhaustion. Behind her, a rabbit lay roasting on a stick. With a simple spell to clear the air, there was no smoke. The dark mark appeared in the sky. Jack's face. Moe groaned and covered her face. No other smiling faces appeared in the sky. Something brushed her arm. Moe looked up, ready to fight, but it was only a skeletal horse. Moe laughed in relief. She figured it must be a thestral. Remembering that thestrals had good sense of direction, she wondered if he knew where water was. Moe leaped to her feet and swung a letg over the thestral's back. It didn't move. Moe dismounted, almost falling off. She made her way over to the slowly roasting rabbit. She cautiously fed the creature. Moe practiced mounting and dismounting until she was sure that she could do it with ease. Then off she went.

000

Brook awoke with her head pounding. Mrs. Weasley was bending over her.

"Are you all right, Brook?"

Her voice sounded echoy and distant, incredibly far away. As soon as Brook realized it, the apparition vanished. Brook looked around the sandy island for a sign of life.

"Hello."

Brook whipped around. Romilda Vane strode confidently down the stretch of sand that sperated them. This was no longer the brazen Gryffindor girl a year behind Brook. This was a killer.

"Can't you be an apparition too?"

Romilda smirked.

"I can't cut a break," muttered Brook.

She picked herself up from the sand, noticing that her vision was fuzzy and her head hurt with dismay. Romilda circled her, reminding Brook irresistibly of a cat circling a defenseless mouse. Neither girl had a wand. However, Romilda had a knife. Brook lowered her hands in what she hoped was a defensive position. Romilda laughed and was across the sand in what felt like moments to Brook's injured brain. Romilda raised the knife to slice at Brook's head. Brook dropped to her knees. The knife missed her. She dived at Romilda's knees. She caught her in a near-perfect taqckle, pinning her to the ground. If only she could get her to the water… The knife flashed up. Brook drew her head back just in time. She lashed out with her foot. Romilda gave a grunt of surprise and fell again. Brook's fingers closed around the handle of the knife. It wasn't enough, and the pain in her stomach proved it. Still, she pushed Romilda into the waves. She screamed as she went under. Brook's head ached. And the two cannon blasts only made it worse.

000

"Who is it?" Harry asked, leveling his wand at the intruder.

"Don't shoot!"

"Jessie?"

"Lily? Why are you with Harry?"

Lily ran forward and embraced her friend tightly. Harry stood back, his wand now at his side.

"I thought you were one of those cannon blasts a few moments ago."

Jessie shook her head, tears tracing their way down her face. Lily's breath caught in her throat. She felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. Jessie regained her composure and began leading the way out of the forest.

"We need to find Ginny and think of some way to end this."

"We could just not kill each other," Lily suggested. "Sirius told me not to change who I was, though I expect that's what everyone else was told."

Harry didn't speak. Lily knew that he was thinking the unspoken: Voldemort would pick them off one by one, starting with Harry.

Before any of them could voice their thoughts, they arrived on the beach. No one had really said where they were going, but they stopped all the same when the Dark Mark appeared in the sky. First was jack, reminding Lily once more. Then Romilda and Brook.

000

Moe was more tired than she ever had been in her life. In her sleep and water-deprived state, she didn't notice when she came to the poisoned lake. She fell to her knees beside it and drank. The next moment, she had fallen sideways and the cannon blast was heard again.

**Poor Moe, impaled upon her own sword. I'm going to be updating more often now, so you can expect a new chapter within a day or so, barring any unforseen circumstance. I think it's going to be one more arena chapter and then on to the world and fighting Voldemort for our winning tribute.**


	11. Part Two: Chapter Six

Lily woke up with a horrible cough. She didn't wake up sick. No, she literally woke up and was thrown backwards from the force of it.

"Lily?" asked Jessie, alarmed.

Lily coughed again, panic lighting in her eyes.

"Dragon Pox," she whispered.

Jessie's eyes widened in terror. Harry looked curiously at her.

"Seven years in the wizarding world and you don't know what dragon pox is?" Jessie asked in exasperation.

Harry shook his head. "Four years in the wizarding world. Three years under the new regime. I wasn't assigned to a healing post."

Lily managed to heave herself into a sitting position.

"It's a disease for wizards. Treated, it can be gone in hours. Of course, you're still green for up to a year afterwards, but—" A cough interrupted her. As soon as she could, she continued. "If it's not treated, and I can't be, you die within the day."

There was a silence.

"How do you think you got it?"

Lily shrugged, castin her arms out wide to emphasize her point.

"You Know Who controls this entire arena! He could have released the virus, meaning to get Harry but getting me instead."

000

Voldemort banged his head on the board that controlled the arena. How Potter had avoided the virus was beyond him. Then he had a thought. What did Potter love in the arena most? The girl, Ginny Weasley. And what did he fear the most? His mind flew to third year defense against the dark arts class. That had been the only class he had not excelled in during all his years at Hogwarts because of boggarts. Who was Potter's third year defense teacher?

"Lucius, bring me Lupin."

Five minutes later, the werewolf was on his knees in front of him, looking defiant. He had already refused several times to tell him what Potter's boggart was. It would have been easy for Voldemort to enter the man's mind, but he had to suffer for his insolence.

"Crucio!"

Remus screamed and fell back, struggling back to his knees when it was finally over.

"Now, what is Potter's boggart?"

"No."

He looked away from the horrible red eyes, but Voldemort forced him to look. Instantly he was surrounded with images of a laughing woman with pink hair and a little boy…a little boy.

"I seem to recall you have a son."

He paled, swallowing hard and trying to stay upright.

"You couldn't—"

"I can and I will unless you tell me."

"Dementors."

000

Ginny felt the cold. Icy fear gripped her. Dementors! Cursing, she leapt to her feet and began to run. Her feet pounded the moist forest floor quickly. She knew in her heart that it was over. Her feet lost their grip on the sand of the beach and she went down. The dementors began to circle.

000

Harry saw the dementors close in on the small figure cowering in the center.

"Ginny!" he shouted, tearing along down the beach. Lily uncurled herself from the ball she was in and began to struggle towards them. Jessie outstripped her dying friend easily on her mad dash to save her sister from a fate worse than death.

"Ginny!"

If it was possible, she ran even faster.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Lily's voice, weak from the endless coughs, summoned the cat that burst forth. Harry's stag was already charging headlong at the dementors. There were so many, more than had ever been at Hogwarts, more than had ever guarded Azkaban. Jessie's tiger joined the prowl. Ginny's wild horse, standing in the middle of the chaos was flickering. Then it died. Harry roared and flung himself into the swirling mass. Lily staggered a few more feet, then collapsed, her hands over her head, reliving the worst experience of her life.

Harry fell to his knees beside Ginny. She looked so small, so weak.

"Ginny!"

She opened her eyes.

"Harry…" she breathed.

A dementors shoved Harry aside and grabbed Ginny. When its horrid job was finished, it drew back and just like that the dementors were gone.

"No!" Harry roared.

Ginny's motionless form did not respond to him, but Harry had seen the last look on her face. There was no point in her living anymore. Harry kissed her then raised his wand.

"Avada Kedavra," he whispered, placing his wand against her head. The light left her eyes just as Jessie reached them. Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked at her sister.

"I heard the cannon," Lily croaked.

She had finally got there, but fell to her knees and coughed.

Jessie aided her friend back to the shore.

"What are we going to do when it's just us?" Harry asked as lily curled up on the shore to sleep. Jessie shrugged and took the first watch.

000

Fire tore through the night. Jessie whipped her head around to see a dragon.

"RUN!"

She and Harry bolted, knowing that Lily would never have a chance to catch up. There was a crack as the dragon ran past Lily. The cannon fired as the last of her strength left her and she crumpled to the ground. The crack of the cannon reminded Jessie. They had never tried it, but it was worth a try.

"Apperate!" she screamed. Harry latched on to her wrist and just as the darkness rose tow swallow her, Jessie wrenched free. Harry twisted away and she remained facing the dragon.

"Bring it on," Jessie snarled and she didn't even flinch when it was her cannon's turn to fire.

000

"Harry Potter, the victor of the first annual Potter Games!" came Rita Skeeter's voice from the hidden source.

Harry looked around the arena in shock. Only seconds before Jessie had sacrificed herself. Nothing happened for a moment and Harry wondered if perhaps it was a cruel trick of Voldemort's to just leave him there. He wouldn't be surprised. However, a fireplace materialized and Harry used Floo Powder.

The first thing he saw was Voldemort standing at the forefront of the Great Hall. Beside him, the mentors. Harry's eyes were drawn immediately to Sirius, whose face was set. There was no doubt in Harry's mind that Mrs. Weasley was forcing back tears. Yet they all looked so strong.

"Congratulations, Harry Potter," Voldemort said.

In that one moment, Harry knew that Voldemort had gotten what he wanted: Harry alive, but shattered beyond repair. But, Harry thought, with a rush of fierce pride, he didn't get what he wanted at all. He, Harry, controlled his destiny. Voldemort would never win if they never gave up, if they never stopped fighting. SO Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the one that had survive because others had died, looked at Voldemort. And smiled.

**Well, folks, this isn't the end. Tune in soon for Part Three: The Horcruxes**


	12. Part Three: Chapter One

**Day One 2:30 P.M. **

**After the Games**

Harry awoke in a warm bed with Mrs. Weasley bending over him.

"You're all right," she said, relieved that he was awake.

"What? Where are the others?"

But as he said it, horrid images flooded his mind. Luna, her face illuminated with green light. Lily coughing uncontrollably, Jessie, pulling herself away, Hermione and Ron laying so deathly still beyond his reach, Colin Creevey writhing on the ground. And Ginny, his wand pressed against her temple. With a soft moan, he collapsed against the pillows and closed his eyes. The list became longer and had all the people who had died for him. Clara, Cho, Colin, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione, Jessie, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Shaun, Lily, Brook, Moe and Jack. Clarachocolinfredgeorgeronhe rmionejessieginnynevilleluna shaunlilybrookmoejack.

His eyes snapped open and Harry sat upright again, feeling sick.

"What's happened to the mentors?" he asked, remembering Remus's face contorted with horrible pain. Harry almost made the mistake of closing his eyes again.

"We're fine," said Sirius, though there was something about the wy he said it that implied otherwise.

"The tributes are in the Great Hall," Molly said, her voice breaking.

For a moment, Harry entertained the childish notion that they all stood outside waiting for him to wake up, living and breathing. He got to his feet, feeling dizzy.

"Why was I unconscious?"

Mrs. Weasley's eyes flashed dangerously at the words.

"You Know Who took you into another room…after the games…"

Harry had another sickening flash of memory, this one of excruciating pain. He forced himself outside, wincing with every step that hurt his aching muscles. The caskets for the tributes were lined up in a neat line. This was worse than seeing them die. It was seeing the ripped apart families grieving for their children. He made himself look at ever face, remembering every detail. He walked even faster, not wanting to see it, not them. Hermione and Ron and Ginny. _Ginny_!

"Harry, we're meeting on the Astoronomy Tower," Sirius muttered. "See you at two."

Harry took the opportunity to retreat to the relative safety and peace and quiet of his room He sank down on to his bed. Before he knew it, the exhaustion and pain gave way to awful nightmares that plagued him.

**Day Two 1:45 A.M.  
Enemies Become Friends**

Harry miraculously woke at 1:45, leaving him just enough time to get to the tower. He tried the doorknob. Locked. Of course. With a sigh, Harry fumbled with the wand from the arena.

"Alohomora."

He tried to disconnect himself from the pain of Hermione's memory. He tried the door again. Nothing. He raised the wand—it would never truly be his—and fired a spell at the door. It rebounded, nearly taking his head off. Harry cursed and turned back to the bed.

"Wotcher, Harry!"

He looked up and had to repress another memory, this one of Ron leaning in his bedroom window at Privet Drive, as he saw Tonks straddling a broomstick outside his window. She looked surprisingly cheerful for someone who had just lost her brother to the Games. She stepped lightly off the broom and offered him a seat.

"We figured they'd try something like this," she said, suddenly businesslike. "They thought you'd try to get away. But, it's been three years and they're dropping security bit by bit."

Harry got on the broom, feeling the familiar rush of energy, and trying to forget the last time he had been on a broomstick. Tonks chattered on cheerfully about Teddy's remarkably early first steps the other day.

Harry wondered if she had entertained the possibility that Teddy would get Reaped in the years to come. She noticed his expression and correctly interpreted it.

" You're worried about Teddy," she said.

Harry didn't have time to answer as they touched down on the Astronomy Tower.

"Dora? Are you all right?" asked Lupin, helping his wife off of the broom.

"I'm fine," Tonks reassured him.

Sirius beamed at Harry. It appeared that shock had left him and washed some of his old defiance back.

"All these people are here to help you—us, I guess—fight!"

Harry's jaw dropped. All around him stood people he had known for years. Some he trusted with his life. Others he wouldn't trust with so much as a Potions book. Narcissa Malfoy was biting the inside of her lip nervously. Her husband had the dark circles under his eyes that marked him as one who had watched to entire Games. And Snape! _Snape_! Sirius positively _hated _Snape.

"What are you doing here?" he asked the room at large, but focusing his attention on the Malfoys and Snape.

"What do you think I'm doing here, Potter?" Narcissa exploded. "I just watched my children die because the Dark Lord decided to punish everyone! My son, ripped apart by a hippogriff! My daughter, dying from a disease that she couldn't cure and running from a beast she could not hope to escape! I have never wanted anything more in my life than to destroy him!"

Her eyes held the same haunted look that Mrs. Weasley's did. To Harry's complete astonishment, Mrs. Weasley and Narcissa shared a small smile. Harry turned to Snape, a little suspiciously.

"Same reasons," he said softly.

"So why are we here?" Harry asked quickly, changing the subject.

McGonagall stepped forward to explain.

"Dumbledore contacted us late the other night from his hiding spot to tell us that he had discovered a way to kill the Dark Lord. Apparently, there are six objects in this world that contain a portion of Vold—You-Know-Who's soul. If we destroy them, we can destroy him. Thus, we have put together groups to destroy these Horcruxes."

Sirius took the wheel and unrolled a bit of parchment.

"All right. The following objects that are Horcruxes are Salazar Slytherin's locket, a ring that once belonged to Marvolo Gaunt, something of Ravenclaw's, Helga Hufflepuff's cup, and Nagini the snake. Remus, Tonks, Mad-eye and Lee are going after the locket. Harry,….Sna—Severus, Hagrid and I are getting the ring—"

"—Hagrid?" interjected Harry.

Hagrid had died a little over a year ago in an intentional fire that had destroyed his home. The ashes still lay in the grounds.

" 'Ello, Harry!"

Harry turned to see the gamekeeper of Hogwarts standing just out of his line of vision. Before he knew it, he was caught up in a bone crushing hug. The pain in Harry's chest eased with the knowledge that the gamekeeper was alive and well.

"Dumbledore wanted me," said Hagrid wiping his eyes with a blanket sized handkerchief. "Couldn't tell anyone—you never know when they'll do a round of Verataserum, see?"

Harry nodded in disbelief. To his surprise, for a moment, he felt normal. No, better than normal. Almost cheerful.

"Molly, Arthur, Narcissa, Mal—Lucius, you're on the thing of Ravenclaw's."

Arthur and Lucius glared at each other in annoyance, but said nothing.

"Bill, Fleur, Minerva, Filius, you're finding Hufflepuff's cup. And Hannah, Susan and Parvati are getting the snake."

Sirius smiled proudly, happy to have accomplished this much on top of the great stress of mentoring a tribute.

"We set off tomorrow," he said, handing out parchment to each group. Hagrid cuffed Harry's shoulder with a broad grin behind this mass of tangled hair. The grin was gone as soon as it had come.

"Ron and Hermione…they're…?"

Harry shook his head. Hagrid sighed, his beard flapping pu.

"They were good, the pair of 'em," he said with a wise nod.

Harry agreed with a nod of his own, his throat closing over.


	13. Part Three: Chapter Two

**Day Three 7:30 A.M.  
Voldemort is Not a Happy Dictator**

Even the Boy Who Lived has to sleep. That's why Harry lay on the lumpy mattress on the day that the Order was scheduled to leave the compound for the first time in three long, painful memory-ridden years. His dreams had been tormented with images of his fallen friends for hours during the night, but mercifully a few minutes ago they had ceased. That would explain the look on his face when his door was knocked on. Harry sighed and pulled himself to his feet. He shuffled over to open the door. Stan Shunpike stood outside, looking quite different than the young man that Harry had met four years ago.

"Hello, Neville!" he said.

Harry didn't even bother correcting him; he just wanted to know why he had been awakened.

"You Know Who wants you." Stan said, looking frightened and mildly impressed that Harry would be wanted by the Dark Lord.

"I'll be ready in a second," Harry promised, closing the door on the former conductor's face.

He groaned while pulling fresh robes over his head. He did not want to meet with Voldemort on any day, but this one in particular was bad. His mind reeled over the possibilities. Was it possible that they had been betrayed? Did Voldemort know what they were planning the entire time? Images of Sirius writhing, Remus and Tonks on the ground, of Teddy Lupin crying for his mother in the same way that he, Harry, had years ago flashed through his head.

"Enough!" he shouted, clamping his hands against the side of his head.

He opened the door again and he and Stan headed off towards the tower that Voldemort had ordered built to live in.

"I didn't want to," Stan said, more cheerful than the situation warranted. "When you were taken by him, I said, I said 'Ern, we best be goin' to America' but…we didn't, so I'm here. Running messages between people like some owl."

Harry said nothing in reply. Stan jabbered on until they had reached the door to Voldemort's private study.

"Bye Neville!" Stan cried, rounding the corner to safety.

Harry knocked, a scowl already plastered on to his face, annoyed that this is what it had comed to.

"Enter," said the silky, high pitched and cold voice that Harry hated so much.

He opened the door.

Voldemort's sanctuary was the very last thing that Harry had expected from him. It was cluttered with hundreds of files (apparently he didn't know how to use the filing cabinets lining the walls) A desk made of a light brown wood was off to one side in front of a high, elegant, sweeping window. The desk was positioned so the light reflected directly on to the pages scattered across it. Distracted as he was, Harry nearly missed Voldemort moving quickly across the ground. In a moment he had crossed the rom in one large stride and pinned Harry against the wall, his wand pressed against his throat.

"How did you survive?" he asked, stepping back and regaining his composure.

Harry tumbled forwards and landed on his knees. He tried to get to his feet, but found an invisible force pinning him there.

"That's better," Voldemort said coolly.

Harry ground his teeth together and thought about leaving to comfort himself, but remembered that Voldemort could read minds.

"You survived. How?" he repeated.

Harry glanced at him.

"You heard the conversation between Lily and I—do you need more proof?"

"The silly ravings of the Malfoy girl while she had dragon pox do not concern me. However, what really happened does."

Harry ground his teeth again at the words. Lily had been perfectly healthy then. He couldn't stand this! Voldemort chuckled softly to himself.

"Your mind is a book, Potter. Emotions, plain as glass. Thoughts displayed for the world to see. It appears that I have gotten exactly what I wanted."

Harry tried to remember what exactly he had been thinking a moment before. Had it been about rebellion?

"Rebellion?"

Harry's eyes darted away from the horrible red ones.

"Look at me, Potter," hissed Voldemort, forcing Harry's chin up. "What rebellion?"

Harry thought fast of Ron and Hermione, Neville and all the others. _Ginny_.

"They sacrificed themselves for me."

His throat tightened again. Harry felt something dark that he hadn't known was there recoil. Voldemort couldn't take emotions of love. Harry struggled to keep calm as he remembered the first morning on the Hogwarts Express. The troll's club falling on its head. Hermione running into the Great Hall after being Petrified. Making up with Ron after the first task. Kissing Ginny by the lake when they both should have been inside. Neville's ten points to Gryffindor. Luna stroking a thestral. Colin clicking his camera furiously.

Voldemort physically moved backwards this time. Harry tried to stand and found quite happily that he could.

"Stay out of my mind," he snarled.

Voldemort raised his wand threateningly. He had proved long ago that he had no interest anymore in killing Harry, but Harry knew that he was fully capable of going back on that decision.

"You dare defy me, Potter?" he asked, his chest heaving, wand leveled at Harry's chest and red eyes blazing.

"Yeah I do. Glad we got that straightened out," Harry replied boldly, feeling a bit better now that he was taking control.

He turned an flung open the door. He pounded down long, narrow, twisting staircase at full speed. He flew past a dumbfounded Stan Shunpike.

"Neville? What are you doing? He isn't gonna like this, you know!"

When he finally made it down, he threw open the door to the castle and pelted headlong down the corridor that was so familiar yet so different. Harry didn't stop until he had fled all the way to his tribute roomed and slammed the door. He locked it as an extra precaution. Harry panted, his back pressed against the door. He couldn't wait to leave.


	14. Part Three: Chapter Three

**Day Four 3:00 A.M.  
Flight, Not Fight**

Lupin was the one who picked Harry up that night. He clung to the broom with white knuckles as if his life depended on it. Which it did, of course, because he was hundreds of feet in the air. He seemed a bit better once Harry had gotten on board and taken control.

"I was never very good at flying," he said, clinging to the broom.

Harry wanted to scream with frustration. Everything made him remember the arena. He hadn't even known Lily very well, apart from the fact that she was a Ravenclaw a year below him, but even the memory of a girl he hadn't known shot pain through his chest. He couldn't be like this for the rest of his life!

Lupin seemed to notice Harry's distress. He patted him once, awkwardly, on the back. He nearly fell off the broom in the process.

"I'll be glad when this is over," he said, squeezing his eyes shut.

000

"All right, everyone!" called McGonagall. "I have wands!"

Out of her hands tumbled sticks of every color and size and probably core too. Hagrid looked particularly excited when he spotted one that was long and thick, more like a walking stick than anything.

"Test them out. I know they are not yours, but they are the best I could find."

Harry made a beeline for the wands, dropping the one from the arena. Too many bad memories were burned into the wood. The others did the same, reminding Harry of sprinting for the Cournicopia with Hermione at his side…

Harry scooped up a wand approximately the same length of his own.

"Lumos.

The ball of light was comforting. Not much effort had been involved in the spell.

"Ready, everyone?" asked Sirius, mounting one of the brooms, though eying his motorcycle. Hagrid climbed aboard and Sirius winced at the cracking sound it made.

Snape got on his own broom, looking slightly uncomfortable at the prospect of leaving the ground behind. Harry got on his broom, feeling a bit better, for he was going to end the Potter Games and get revenge for his friends.

000

Snape was obviously trying not to, but he looked petrified. The broom jerked from left to right occasionally beneath him. Gripping it harder, he cursed his own stupidity for going on this pointless venture. Black looked comfortable on a broomstick and that caused Snape to struggle even more with keeping his broom straight.

"Where are you going, Black? The border is the other way!"

Black glared at him, as well as a person could while trying to keep their broom in the air.

"We're getting something while the others break the border," Black explained, swerving from side to side with wase. He was headed for what appeared to be the Headmaster's office. The Death Eaters hadn't managed to force entry yet.

Black was already hovering by the window by the times Snape managed to steer his broom there. Potter was doing a loop the loop behind him, enjoying the ride.

"The funny thing about Death Eaters," Black said, raising a large rock, "is that they don't think to try Muggle means of doing things."

He flung the rock through the window with all his might. Unsurprisingly, the glass shattered. There was a lot of anger fueling that throw.

"They never tried that?" asked Potter in disbelief.

Black grinned.

"Actually, Dumbledore enchanted it so that they wouldn't think of trying it. He's one clever man."

Both men shot through the small hole in the window, Black enlarging it for his godson. Snape edged into the room uncertainly. By the time he ha managed to get halfway through the hole, Potter and Black had zoomed past him carrying the sword of Gryffindor.

000

"Ready?" asked Sirius.

Harry readjusted his grip on the handle of his broom. They were meeting Hgrid near the border. The sword of Gryffindor was balanced with magic next ot Sirius. He bolted forward and through the barrier. Harry followed, feeling a rush of iciness akin to the kind he had gotten when he had gone thorugh the fire to get the Sorcerer's Stone. The memory of Hermione's arms around his neck made him freeze.

But for the first time in three years, he was free!

"Dumbledore messed with the enchantments," Sirius explained with a whoop, sounding seventeen rather than thirty-seven.

"Now what?" Snape asked, sounding fifty-seven rather than thirty-seven.

"Next stop, Little Hangleton!" Sirius cried.

000

They flew through the night, Snape complaining the entire way under his breath. Harry stayed as close to Hagrid as he could. The former gamekeeper filled part of the hole where Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ginny had been. Harry unwillingly answered questions about the games. After a few minutes, Hagrid seemed to realize that his inquiring was making things worse.

"Harry, it'll feel better with time," the giant promised, patting Harry on the back. His broom dropped about four feet from the force of Hagrid's hand.

"So how exactly do we know where we're going?" asked Snape drily after a half hour of silence.

Harry looked over at his godfather to see that he had a large map of the country floating breezily along beside him. Harry directed his broom over to Sirius.

"We had to ink Little Hangleton in," Sirius explained. "It's so small, it's not even on here."  
Harry glanced down at the map. It was enchanted, rather like the Marauder's Map to show their progress.

"Do you reckon they know we're gone yet?" Harry asked.

Sirius snorted.

"They knew a long time ago, I'll bet. They don't want to be the one to tell the big guy."

"You mean Vol—"

"Don't!" Hagrid cried.

Startled, Harry nearly fell off his broom. He was really out of practice.

"Why not?"

"E's got it tabooed! When Dumbledore said it, a bunch o' Death Eater showed up to finish him off. 'Course, they were no match for Dumbledore. Got me pretty good, though."

Hagrid motioned at a scar that Harry hadn't noticed before. Sirius checked the map again and began to descend.

"We're still a mile out of town, but we'll have to walk in."

Harry's legs felt rubbery after he dismounted. So rubbery, in fact, that he promptly staggered into Hagrid. The gamekeeper steadied him. Snape seemed much more happy on land; he plucked the map out of the air and took the lead. Sirius followed, looking annoyed that his map had been stolen.

"Dumbledore's sure it's here," Sirius said, falling into step beside Harry. "He doesn't know where, so we should go into town and ask around."

The rest of the way, they trudged on in silence. Sirius pushed the door to an inn open.

"Do you have four rooms?" he asked.

The barman looked up.

"And a clothing store?" Harry asked pointedly.

While there would doubtlessly be nothing in Hagrid's size, they were conspicuous enough in a little town like this.

"You could use them!" chirped a woman sitting alone in a booth. She fluttered her eyelashes in Sirius's direction. He stepped back apprehensively, eyeing her as if she would pounce. Snape smirked.

"Yes and yes," the barman said.

Harry turned to Hagrid.

"Could you pay for the rooms?'

Sirius pressed a credit card into his large hand and led the two others out the door.

000

Harry emerged from the dressing room, feeling much better to be free of anything he could associate to the games. To his surprise, Sirius looked completely natural in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with the logo of a band he had probably never heard of. Snape, however, was decked out in the odd array of clothing that wizards often wore when mimicking Muggle dress. Harry sighed.

"Let's go get Hagrid."

000

Hagrid already had miraculously booked the room. They were free to explore. Despite being completely exhausted, they agreed to split up to search. Harry set off for a ramshackle hut that a pureblooded family had once lived in. He reached what could have once been called a house, bu now resembled a pile of sticks. With a halfhearted sigh, Harry began sifting through the rubble.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you."

Harry turned to see a Muggle girl watching him intently.

"Who are you talking to, Becca?"asked another voice.

A second girl dropped out of the tree and floated to the ground. Harry's jaw dropped. They—or at least the one girl—were Muggleborn. Becca pointed to him.

"He was about to touch the place where the ring was!"

"Becca," said a third girl. "Mum told us not to—"

"I know, I know. He was about to touch the ring, Emma! I saved his life!"

Emma smiled at Harry.

"Guys, what are you—"

"Saving someone's life!" Becca said, bouncing up and down excitedly.

The Muggleborn girl stepped forward.

"I'm Sammy, that's Rocky—" the last girl. "—Emma—" the third girl "-and Becca."

Harry watched the girls' exchange with some wonderment. Despite Voldemort's best efforts, there were still Muggleborns in the Muggle world.

"Can—can you all do that?"

"What, float?" asked Sammy. "Yeah—"

She stopped herself and stared at him suspiciously.

"Why?"

Harry shook his head. The less he talked to the girls, the better.

"Why can't I touch the ring?" he asked. He had found it. No doubt Voldemort had put enchantments on it. Becca answered him this time.

"Our friend, Marie—Well, not friend, exactly…more like a casual acquaintance, really. She was a friend, but not a close—"

"Get to the point, Becca!" the girls cried as one.

"At any rate, Marie touched it about six months ago. We were curious, you know, because of all the stories surrounding this place. Anyway, she screamed. We came upon her in the dead of night—"

"No we didn't," interrupted Emma. "It was at 2:00.""

"Fine. We came upon her at 2:00. She was on the ground. We'd heard the screams. So she was on the ground and we saw the ring. 'No! No, don't' touch it!' she screamed. Well, we were more worried about her than some old ring. We took her to the hospital and then….she died. Apperently whatever had happened to her hands happened to the rest of her," Becca finished dramatically.

"So what are the stories?" Harry asked.

Becca grinned. The others groaned.

"Give us the short version, Becca, please!" Sammy moaned.

"Okay. Well, there once was a tramp that lived here called Gaunt. And he had a son, Morfin, and a daughter, Merope. They were very strange. The son could only speak in weird hisses and the daughter never at all. Now, on that hill where the manor is, there lived a very rich family. Tom Riddle, the boy and his two parents—"

Harry felt his chest leap. These girls knew of Voldemort's father!

"Well, one day, Tom Riddle and Merope Gaunt ran off together. The hermit's daughter and the squire's son! Appearently, Merope had lied to him, saying that she was going to have his son. Tom came back a year later. It gets stranger. Tom Riddle grew old in the manor and Merope never came back. Morfin got his revenge, though. Years later, Tom Riddle and his parents were dead in the manor. Morfin Gaunt confessed to the crime. The strangest thing—nothing was wrong with them. Apart from the being dead bit. Then, just three years ago, Frank Bryce the groundskeeper of the manor died the same way."

"Four strange deaths," said Rocky, "in one small town."

That was because they were hopelessly entangled with the most evil wizard of their time, Harry knew. It was a wonder they weren't all dead yet. Harry bit his lip.

"Look. Don't think I'm crazy, but you're all witches."

Becca's eyebrows shot up into her head. Emma looked at him in annoyance. Harry pulled out his wand.

"I didn't mean it as an insult—I'm a wizard."

Harry made the rubble float. Becca gave a giddy cry and whirled around the clearing, questions pouring rom her mouth.

"You can't use your powers. Listen to me. In a few years, you might be ablr to, but for now it's too dangerous.:

Becca sighed. Then her eyes lit up.

'It has something to do with the gring. This town. The Guants and the Riddles!"

Harry nodded.

"It was everything to do with this," Becca breathed, lifting up a board.

There was the ring.


	15. Part Three: Chapter Four

**Day Five 3:00 PM**

Nymphadora Tonks stood perched on a high cliff face above the sea. The water slammed against the rock with fury.

"Don't get too close," warned Remus.

"You worry too much," she responded, flinging her arms out wide.

The mist slapped her face, and she was blind for a moment, but wasn't troubled. Mad-Eye was already halfway down the cliff face, his fake leg helping his descent. Lee Jordan was with him, dreadlocks already soaked with salt water.

"It's safe!" Mad-Eye called up from his precarious grip on the ledge.

Tonks started down with ease. Because of her metamorphous ability, she had quite the advantage. She could reach out farther than her ordinary body could. However, Remus matched her rock for rock, even when the waves smashed against the side and neither one could see. During those times, Tonks pressed her cheek against the sheer face in a failed attempt to shield herself.

"Excellent," said Moody, tapping around the wall with his staff. "There's a little crevice that I think might be the cave," he said, gesturing towards the rock. "We're going to get wet."

Tonks gave a cheerful yell and leaped off the cliff and into the water. For a moment, her bright pink hair wasn't visible from above. The water closed over her head and she paddled to the surface.

"C-come on in. The w-water's fine!" Tonks chattered.

Her robes swirled around her, hindering her swimming. Mad-Eye was next, but he used a hovering charm on a rock to lower himself down to water level before he jumped in. Lee launched himself into the waves.

"C-cold, huh?" Tonks asked.

"Not any more than it was up there," Lee said matter-of-factly.

Tonks noticed that he'd been quieter these days. He had only been a second year when she'd left Hogwarts, but he'd already been up to his ears in trouble with the twins. _Oh. The twins._

Remus splashed into the water last.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

Without waiting for a reply, she plunged beneath the water. Everything was dark for a few seconds until she forced her eyes open. The water had a murky feel to it; more lake than ocean. She struggled back to the top. They were in a cavern. Tonks pulled herself on land and dried herself off before the others had even arrived. Unsurprisingly, Mad-Eye got there second and began work at once, muttering spells under his breath.

After a few minutes of this, something shiny appeared on the wall.

"Blood offering," he said gruffly. "Anyone got a knife?"

When they all shook their heads, Mad-Eye grunted and took out his wand. Slowly he drew a small line of blood down his arm and pressed it to the rock. A door melted open. Tonks charged forwards and almost over the edge of the lake. It was only Remus grabbing the back of her robes that stopped her from falling in. Mad-Eye pushed her aside ("Why aren't you a Gryffindor?") and clunked around the edge of the lake. He had his arms outstretched in front of him like a blind man. After they had nearly made a full circuit, his fingers closed around something. He began to tug on it. A creaky boat rose from the murky lake.  
"This is easy," Tonks commented, striding to the boat.

Remus followed, albeit more carefully. The second he touched the boat, it tipped sideways. Tonks barely managed to escape in time.

"It can only take one," Lee said.

Tonks seated herself and the boat began to move. It was only a few minutes before she hit the island. Tonks stepped out and peered around.

"It's in this basin thingy!"

"Don't touch it!" Remus called.

Tonks, finger already extended to prod the greenish liquid that might as well have screamed poison, drew back.

"Do you think Vol—"

"YOU-KNOW-WHO!" cried the others.

"He, then, would have thought of first year magic?"

Tonks used a Levitating charm on the boat. It floated into he air and Tonks cast it back to the group. Something white flipped out of the water. She jumped.

"What was that?"

Remus sailed across and sent it back to Mad-Eye with his usual neat precision. Still, the result was the same. When they only had Lee left to get, Mad-Eye inspected the weird green potion.

"Do you think it's poison?" Tonks inquired, already knowing what his answer would be.

Mad-Eye shook his head and conjured up a goblet. It was the first time Tonks had seen him without his hip flask.

"Dumbledore told us that You-Know-Who," he said, obviously disgusted with himself for not calling him Voldemort, "would not want to kill the person who made it this far."

Okay, so she didn't know what the answer would be. Still, Mad-Eye's answer was good for one thing: Proving that Dumbledore had gone absolutely, positively bonkers.

"Yet, anyway," Mad-Eye added as an afterthought.

Remus took the goblet from him.

"Only two of us should drink."

Tonks nodded.

"Me and Mad-"

"Absolutely not. I'll go, and Mad-Eye if he wants to."

Remus dipped the goblet into the potion.

0000

It tasted awful. Remus shuddered and put the goblet back down. Mad-Eye copied him, muttering cheers. Instantly, Remus's vision began to swim.

Well, that couldn't be good.

Images danced across his view. They came clearly. Fenrir Greyback, teeth glinting in his werewolf form, stalked towards him.

"No!"

He knew what would happen next. It was what had always happened, ever since he was a boy in real life and nightmares.

"Please! No, I'll endanger them!"

As always, his parents' faces flashed across the nightmarish vision, this time joined by his wife and son…Greyback stepped forward one last time.

Remus felt something shake him and glimpsed a flash of pink as the goblet was once again tipped down his throat.

The vision intensified. This time Greyback listened to his plea and turned away from him, only to leap on his parents, turning them into monsters. A monster like him.

"Stop! No, please! Take me, take me!"

The potion was poured once again.

Greyback lashed out at James and Lily, who disappeared in a puff of smoke. They left him, just like sixteen years ago…

The goblet again pierced the dream world and it was Tonks and Teddy and Sirius and everyone he had ever cared about…

He was dragged down into darkness.

000

**Day Six 7:00 AM**

Remus came to outside the cave in a lovely field that was about as far removed from the nightmare he had endured. Tonks sat next to him, absentmindedly picking the petals off a daisy.

"It's not the Horcrux."

Remus groaned and lay down in the sunbaked grass again. Tonks handed him the locket. He inspected it, turning it over in his palm.

"That handwriting looks awfully familiar," Remus muttered, unfolding the note.

Tonks shrugged.

"We think we know where it is—the real one."

Remus looke up. Lee Jordan had a clipping from the Daily Prophet clutched in his fist. It read **POTTER PICKED FOR GAMES **and showed him walking up to Umbridge, who had a golden locket with a serpentine S on it.

000

After they had procured a hair from a fourteen year old Muggle boy and added it to a bottle of Polyjuice potion that Mad-Eye had obtained from a place unknown, they were ready.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Remus. Trying though he was, Tonks could still hear a note of trepidation in his voice.

She laughed and grew a few inches. Her hair turned into a wild mass of black and her face assumed a naturally haughty air. She was an almost exact replica of Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Now that was creepy," Lee said.

He now looked like the Muggle boy that they had stolen the hair from. With Lee masquerading as a younger wizard, Tonks had an excuse to use the lift instead of Floo Powder. The less time that they spent in the company of others, the better. Tonks waved to Mad-Eye and Remus, who were both staying behind as she lead the way down the bustling Muggle street. It was wonderful to see Muggles walking around as free as wizards had once been. It was worse knowing that if they failed, this wouldn't go on much longer.

After a few minutes of walking, Tonks spotted the phone booth. It stood on the corner, guarded by a bored looking wizard.

"State your name and purpose," he growled.

Tonks stepped forward.

"Is that necessary?" she demanded.

The guard's eyes went wide.

"I'm with the gamemakers on the second floor. I have this Mudblood filth here with me to test."

She shook Lee a little at the words.

"His name?"

"Teddy," she replied automatically. Then, cursing her mistake, she continued. "Teddy Granger."

The guard smirked.

"I suppose you know that girl then…Hermione, was it?"

"My sister," Lee muttered, keeping his eyes on the ground.

The guard stepped aside and they descended in the elevator after Tonks tapped in the correct numbers.

"Ow!" Lee complained, rubbing his neck. Tonks grinned.

"I was excellent. Now let's just hope that Umbridge and I are chummy."

"…and that we don't run into you," Lee pointed out.

They got out of the lift. The Ministry of Magic looked desolate. Tonks walked around, trying not to look lost. Would it kill them to put a map at the entrance?

"Er…she'll probably be on the top floor, that's where the best offices are," she thought aloud.

She and Lee boarded the lift. Lee clutched the strap at the top as if his life depended on it, but Tonks was used to the ride. They got off and walked…straight into her. Lee took a step back.

"Bella, how are you?" Umbridge asked sweetly.

Lee's fist clenched in his pocket. He was obviously hated the woman that had condemned his friends to death.

"Fine," Tonks said shortly, not wanting this meeting to be any longer than it had to.

Umbridge's brow furrowed.

"Are you all right? You sound…different."

Tonks feigned a cough. Umbridge fished around in her small purse and pulled out a cough drop.

"Thanks," Tonks rasped, and leaned forward to take it.

She held her wand up to Umbridge's head while leaning and though: _Stupefy_! With a soundless jet of light, Umbridge was down. They took the locket. Tonks removed her memory of the event and woke her as quickly as she could.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Umbridge stood up.

"Must have fainted. Are we still on for Saturday?"

Tonks nodded, wondering what she meant by that.

"Got to go, bye!"

As she twisted into darkness, Tonks smiled. Mission completed.


	16. Part Three: Chapter Five

**This chapter includes Fleur. I'm not very good with her accent, but I tried to show it the best I could.**

**Day 7 9:30 PM**

Minerva McGonagall had always liked Bill Weasley. He had come into her class with an apple on the first day and been one of her favorites ever since. She had been glad that he had gone into curse breaking for Gringotts. She herself had recommended it, mentioning the great amount of Transfiguration skill required for the job. She had never been happier about a decision in her life.

"You think the cup is in Gringotts?"

The goblins had gone into lockdown mode and literally retreated deep underground. Voldemort hadn't been nearly as angry as he should have that he had lost the bank. Bill thought that he had been happy that a portion of his soul had been hidden deeper than ever before.

"So, zeese goblins. You think that zey will just hand over ze key to zere entire existence?" Fleur asked.

"I've been named a goblin-friend by a few of them."

"And if zey are not ze ones guarding ze entrance?"

Bill shrugged and looked to Flitwick for help.

"I am part goblin on my mother's side," he put in.

They looked towards Minerva for her advice. She shrugged as well.

"It's worth a go."

000

Diagon Alley used to be a sight for sore eyes for Minerva. Sore eyes that had seen her mother's unhappiness. Now it just made sore eyes sorer still. The Gringotts door was blocked with a door that only a goblin could open. Flitwick eyed it a bit nervously.

"Supposedly I am able to open this, but I don't know if I can."

McGonagall looked around. If they were going to do something, they would have to do it fast. The Death Eaters most likely knew that they were there, and were simply waiting for a good time to attack. Flitwick raised his hand and stroked the door with a long finger that was disproportionate to the rest of his body. Wind began to swirl around him.

"Get away!"

Bill's eyes went wide as he realized what was going on. He pulled Fleur out of harm's way, leaving Minerva to fend for herself. She tried to tug Flitwick from the door. He was stuck fast by his finger.

"Move, Minerva!" he cried. "MOVE!"

She followed his instructions at the last possible minute. The wind blew faster, forming a mini tornado. Then it all stopped and Filius Flitwick was gone.

"Zat was unfortunate."

Bill looked at the now solid wall in horror.

"We have to get him out."

Minerva thought about telling him "no kidding" but decided that it was unprofessional and had poor timing. A few Death Eaters rounded the corner. Bill dragged both women around the corner of Gringotts.

"What are we going to do?" he demanded.

If they didn't do something, they'd be caught and tortured until they exposed all the others, including Hannah, Parvati, Susan, Molly, Arthur, Narcissa and Lucius, all of whom were still in the castle.

"In here!"

Bill turned to see a young goblin's face peering out at him. Minerva dived in the small opening without a second thought. Bill followed. Fleur sighed.

"Gryffindors."

000

Minerva looked down at the goblin that had saved them. She had dark brown hair and the same black eyes that all goblins had.

"I'm Imelda," she said.

Bill looked around the majestic entrance hall. Instead of the chandelier, there were now hanging plants.

"We needed to grow food," Imelda told them. "No one knows of this but you and your clan, Bill Goblin-Friend."

She fixed him with a hard glare.

"Thank you," Bill said.

Imelda nodded, pleased.

"The part goblin, Flitwick, informed me of your presence and your plight. You are a goblin-friend?"

"Yes."

"Good. I was allowed to bring you here because my great-great-great-…oh, you know, grandfather Ragnuck was once an…._associate _of wizards."

Bill gasped. Fluer still looked rather unimpressed by the entire experience.

"And zat means…?"

"You….you're…"

Imelda nodded, her chin held proudly aloft.

"The queen of the goblins, yes."

Fluer's pale eyebrows shot up. Minerva looked at her curiously.

"What brings you to Gringotts? Gold? Protection? We can offer you neither, Bill Goblin-Friend."

Bill cleared his throat.

"Er…have you found something particularly dark in any of the vaults?"

Imelda gave him a swift, calculating look that Minerva was used to. It was the one that she had given her students when they were out of line.

"We have sensed great evil from the vault of Lestrange. Our sense of magic is not as acute as that of wizards. Perhaps if we had wands…" she trailed away darkly. "I apologize. This is not the time or place for this discussion. Like I was saying, we have sensed great evil from the vault of Lestrange. That in itself is not a strange occurrence, but this is beyond anything that Madame Lestrange has ever had in her vault, and that is saying something. Why do you seek it?"

"We want to destroy it."

Imelda gave him one last look before leading the wizards over to where the carts were stored. The goblins shrank back as they passed as if they had a fatal disease. Bill got in the cart the goblin offered him, Fleur complaining about the carts. Imelda grabbed the wheel as if she had been born knowing how (she very well might have been) and off they went, zipping down the dark tunnels.

"All of our security is still in place!" Imelda yelled over her shoulder, pointing to a waterfall cascading down the walls.

They were drenched as they passed under it.

"It's the Thief's Downfall!" she explained. "It removes all enchantments."

Bill looked back at his companions. Fleur clutched the sides of the cart with white knuckles. McGonagall, meanwhile, siphoned water off of her robes into a small bottle that she had conjured.

"We can use it for imposters later!"

Bill gave her a thumbs up as the cart lurched to a halt. He hopped off and helped Fluer off as well. Imelda was ahead of them, using devices Bill knew to be clankers. They would frighten away dragons. One such dragon was curled against the wall, steam pouring from his nostrils in fright. Bill was glad that he had talked Charlie out of accompanying him on this venture—his brother would have objected to the treatment of such a "beautiful creature."

Imelda opened the door. Bill's jaw dropped. Hundreds of golden Galleons were stacked carelessly against the wall to make room for the rest of the hoard. There were dusty books in teetering piles with titles like _Decapitation Made Easy _and _Magick Moste Evile_. McGonagall made a move to investigate, but then thought better of it and stepped back. Hundreds of objects littered every inch of available space. The Dark Magic rising from them overwhelmed Bill for a moment, so the young goblin leader had to repeat herself.

"What are you looking for?"

Bill dragged his gaze away from a goblet filled to the brim with a mysterious liquid that practically screamed poison and scanned the vault.

"That!"

There was a small golden cup with a badger inscribed on the front that looked incredibly cheerful compared to the rest of the trove in reds and blacks. Still, Bill knew better than to be tricked by appearances. The little golden cup was three times as dangerous as any of the many cursed objects he had encountered while curse-breaking for Gringotts.

Imelda stepped forward. The cup was on a high shelf far beyond her reach. Bill walked forward to assist her. As he did so, he brushed the silver chalice filled with the frothing liquid that he had been examining before. It fell and the liquid soaked his shoe. Luckily, Fluer still had her wits about her, and she flicked her wand at the potion, freezing it. Bill breathed a sigh of relief, but the goblet (and its contents) had multiplied.

"Don't touch anything, Bill Goblin-Friend!" Imelda hissed. Then, seeing that a second goblet full of the liquid had fallen, this time on Fluer, she continued, "Get as far away from that as you can."

The humans hastened to obey as more of the liquid began multiply. Bill raised his wand and hovered the goblin up to the cup. She took it down and held it out to him.

"I have secured it. The Gemini Spell is gone. You can touch it, but nothing else. Let us get out of here before we drown," she said with a patronizing look at Bill.

Bill took it, feeling a surge of pride. They had done it!

000

Flitwick was annoyed when they returned from the vault. While he had been drinking tea and conversing with a few goblins, they had found a Horcrux.

"Lady Imelda, until we meet again," he told the goblin leader.

She smiled at him. McGonagall shook her head with a low chuckle. Who would had have guessed that this little adventure would lead to Flitwick meeting the goblin of his dreams?

**Updates, updates, glorious updates. One lucky reviewer will be chosen to receive an review for one of their stories and every reviewers get free invisible Galleons that can be used to buy invisible magical objects at invisible Diagon Alley! Forgive me, I misplaced my invisible pocketbook…I need to go look for that…**


	17. Part Three: Chapter Six

**Day Eight 2:49 A.M. **

_She must be nocturnal, _thought Susan Bones in irritation. Why on Earth Bellatrix Lestrange wanted a cup of tea at this ungodly hour was beyond her.

"Tea for Miss Susan!"

A house elf wheeled around the corner. His eyes, green as a tennis ball and every bit as round, bored into Susan's. He pressed the cup into Susan's hands, along with a tiny sliver of parchment. Susan thanked him and discreetly opened the note.

_Dumbledore has assigned Dobby to help!_

Susan looked around for the elf, but he had already gone. Their team had a new member. She looked down at her watch and cursed. She had already been late due to Peeves partially destroying the kitchens. Susan usually liked when the poltergeist caused trouble. Voldemort had been no more able to remove the pest than Dumbledore had, so Peeves took advantage of his powers whenever he could. Despite terrorizing students, he had taken their side against Voldemort. Still, his tricks were going to cost her.

Susan carried the cup to the quarters of the Death Eaters. She knocked, not nervous. She, Hannah and Parvati had been working for the Death Eater since the end, three years ago.

"Enter."

Susan, knowing better then to reply, set down the cup and fled.

000

**Day Eight 4:00 P.M.**

Dobby groaned in frustration as he, for the third time, attempted to hang a banner bearing the dark mark in what had been the charms corridor. Since no one, not even the house elves, were permitted to use magic, the going was slower than it would have been.

The usually cheery house elf was impatient. He had finally gotten his freedom, then had it taken away as abruptly as it had been given. Lord Voldemort could not be tricked into giving him a sock.

With a final sigh, he gave up the attempt, not frightened about what would happen to him if anyone ever found out.

000

Hannah, Susan, Parvati and Dobby sat crouched in a broom closet. Parvati complained about being hungry (they were missing dinner) and not having enough room to stretch her legs. It certainly wasn't the most the most comfortable headquarters in the world, but it would do. Susan's first choice would have been the Room of Requirement, but ever since the D.A. had been disbanded against their will and the Secret-Keeper Colin Creevey forced to tell where they had made their headquarters, the Room had been a rather dangerous place to go.

"We need to get that snake, but the thing never leaves his side!" Hannah exclaimed, face ablaze with the determination signature to Hufflepuff.

Neville's death had shaken her, and she was bent on defeating Voldemort.

"We can't let the Games happen again," agreed Parvati with a frown. "Next year it could me staggering around the forest half delirious and eventually drinking poison water."

"Dobby lost friends," Dobby said angrily.

Susan was silent, staring down at her shoes (or perhaps the cleaning supplies; it was difficult to tell)

"And I've been assigned to walk the beast!" said an annoyed voice outside.

Dobby gave an excited squeak and tumbled over a can of Mrs. Skower's Magical Cleaning Supplies.

The door was flung open just as Susan pulled Hannah out of sight. Dobby tumbled out of the closet on top of the man's feet.

Yaxley looked at him in disgust.

"Just a house elf," he told his partner disparagingly. "But why were you hiding in the closet, filth?"

Dobby's eyes widened, but years of dealing with the Malfoys had taught him to think on his feet.

"Dobby was stuck in there, sir. Dobby was getting supplies to clean the windows, sir, but the door shut on Dobby and Dobby is not allowed to use magic without punishing himself, sir and Dobby does not like—"

Yaxley turned on his heel and left, motioning for his broad-shouldered companion to follow him. Susan shook herself free of Hannah's death grip.

"Do you think he meant…d'you think…?"

"Miss Susan is right!" gasped Dobby. "The beast is Nagini the snake!"

000

**Day Nine 3:45 P.M.**

That night, Dobby stole around the house-elf quarters. Winky stirred in the bunk below him. Dobby wondered for a moment if it would be possible to organize a movement of house elves. Then, realizing that he was being far too optimistic, he shook his head. He opened the door, wincing as it creaked.

"Dobby?"

He turned to find Winky, large blue eyes wide and petrified, staring at him. "What is yous doing?"

"Sssh!" he hissed. "Dobby is…Dobby is fighting the Dark Lord the best that Dobby can. Winky must promise Dobby that she will not tell!"

Winky kept her eyes trained on him.

"Be careful."

He nodded and eased the door shut behind him. The castle was dark, but Dobby knew at these hours Death Eaters prowled the halls looking for miscreants just like him.

He ducked behind tapestries with the Dark Mark, identical to the one that he had been trying to hang that very morning. He did it whenever he could, not wanting to be caught.

"Dobby!"

His heart stopped. He stretched out a finger menacingly, ready to use magic for the first time in three years.

"Don't shoot!" Parvati whispered.

"You frightened Dobby," the house elf said, putting a hand over his chest, still breathing heavily from his fright.

Parvati set off down the hallway, black hair swinging behind her. Dobby hurried to catch up, his short legs working hard. They met up with Hannah and Susan not long after. They snuck down the corridors that had once been a safe place to be. Hannah's eyes watered as they passed the room that had been used for her mother's execution. Dobby touched her shoulder in an almost fatherly sort of way. Hannah gave him a watery smile as she blinked past the tears. Parvati checked her watch.

"Only a few minutes until midnight," she said.

She had eavesdropped on Bellatrix when she had discussed Nagini's health with Yaxley.

"Let's go," Susan said.

000

Hannah Abbot did her best not to shriek when she saw the snake. It had occurred to her that they had no means of destroying it only a few minutes ago, and that had not helped her nerves. They had to subdue the snake for Merlin knows how long until the others had gotten their own Horcrux. Luckily, Dobby, who was pretty handy with Potions, had made a potion that if made incorrectly caused irreversible sleep. He had brewed it incorrectly in secret for the past day underneath his cot. Despite her protests, Hannah now held the glass flask in her shaking hands. She had always been good at Hagrid's classes, somehow managing to keep her Blast Ended Skrewt from skewering Ernie MacMillan like a human kabob. Now it was time for the final exam.

It was pass/fail. Life/Death if you will.

She chewed nervously on her thumbnail. Yaxley was setting out from the castle with Nagini and he was headed for the ashes of Hagrid's hut.

"Mr. Yaxley! Mr. Yaxley sir!" cried Dobby, skidding down the hill like an out of control bumper car. He crashed to a halt against Yaxley's knees. He looked up, quite dazed.

"The Dark Lord would like you in his office, sir," he said convincingly.

The man fixed him with a hard stare.

"Why would he—"

Dobby seemed to grow. "Do yous wish for Dobby to—"

"N-no. I'll be going. Watch the snake."

Dobby looked a tad nervous at that prospect as he surveyed Nagini. Yaxley took off towards the castle at a jog. Hannah approached Nagini the same way she would approach a burning building.

"Hey girl," she breathed.

Nagini regarded her imperiously as if Hannah was a mouse she could swallow whole. She probably could, too.

"Do you want a drink?" Hannah asked, holding out the flask.

Nagini drew back with a low hiss. Smart snake.

"Have it your way, then!" Parvati shouted. "Stupefy!"

The snake crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap. Hannah approached the prone snake and opened her mouth. Gasping at the size of her fangs, Hannah tipped the potion into Nagini's maw.

They raced off to get brooms and escape like all the others, carrying a portion of Voldemort's soul with them.

**So another one bites the dust! We're coming up on the end! Please leave a review: they really do make my day. And, I'll review something of yours. Sound fair?**


	18. Part Three: Chapter Seven

**Day Ten 2:32 P.M.**

They had been gone when she'd woken up that morning. Dobby, Parvati, Susan and Hannah had successfully abducted Nagini, but had nearly compromised the one other mission left. Molly, Arthur, Narcissa and Lucius weren't working too well together, and when the Dark Lord had ordered suspicious people searched, it was only quick thinking on Arthur's part that had saved them. He had pulled his wife into the line of people in front of Lucius, who had given them water instead of Veratiserum.

Molly left the house she and her family had been living in and set out for the castle. She had needed to get away from the ghosts of her children, and this was the only way she knew how. She had lost almost all of them to the Games. Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, Jessie…

"Molly!"

Narcissa Malfoy was standing by the entrance gates and flagging Molly down. She sighed and hurried over to her before she would alert the whole castle to their assignment.

"We've got to find it today," she said in a low voice. "Our time is running out. With all the escapes and Nagini's disappearance, security will be much tighter."

Molly nodded. They knew the thing of Ravenclaw's was somewhere in the castle. The two witches huffed and puffed as they struggled up the long path.

"You don't really appreciate how long this path is until you walk it," Narcissa commented. The two women were bonded with grief, but years of animosity between two families didn't dissipate just like that.

"A couple hundred times."

There was an awkward silence for a long time until:

"He would have been eighteen in a month."

Molly looked at her sympathetically for a minute.

"Ron was. Eighteen, I mean. He always used to complain that he hadn't really come of age when he turned seventeen because he couldn't use magic."

Both women remained silent for some time, remembering their children.

"I couldn't believe it when Potter killed your daughter…I broke down, thinking how it could have been Lily lying there…before I knew it, she was gone too."

_Oh, Ginny. _Molly bit her lip and closed her eyes when she felt her throat close over.

"She st-still could have been victor, though. She wasn't d-dead. I just don't think I c-could have dealt with that. Her being there but gone all the same…" Molly couldn't go on.

There was a pause like one of those silences before the speaker at the podium begins to talk.

"I'm doing this for them," Molly said.

"Lily and Jessie were good friends," Narcissa said.

"I know."

000

Arthur Weasley had seen a lot of strange things in his lifetime, but even wizards are surprised when doors pop out of solid walls. Or formerly solid walls. There was a Death Eater standing with his back to it, fixing Arthur with a sharp stare. He didn't appear to see the door behind him. He'd probably stood there too long to notice a change. Arthur slowly felt for the wand hidden in his robes. Just as he was passing by, he drew it and pointed it at the man.

"Stupefy," he whispered.

With a jet of red light, the man fell. Arthur wrenched open the door and dragged the man inside. Most people would not have gone inside, but Arthur was a Weasley and a Gryffindor, and the two combined made his overpowering curiosity overwhelm his caution.

"Wow."

There was no other word for it. The room was filled with _things_. Many, many, many things stacked upon each other in staggering amounts. A silvery ghost stood among all of it, her long hair covering her face.

"What is all of this?" Arthur asked, setting the man none too gently on the floor.

The ghost turned to face him, pulling a bit of hair behind her ear as she went.

'This is the Room of Hidden Things."

_Great, _thought Arthur drily, _if the Horcrux is here, we'll never find it!_

"Why are you here?"

The ghost shot him a fierce glare. His questioning was annoying her.

"The Death Eaters, why else? I must watch it!"

"Ooookay…do you know anything about Rowena Ravenclaw?"

The woman's face contorted. Anger rippled across her features.

"What do you know of this?" she shrieked. "He defiled it! He took my mother's diadem and used it for evil!"

Diadem? Wasn't that a sort of crown?

"Are you—"

"My name is Helena Ravenclaw."

Arthur took a step back. This was the daughter of one of the founders of Hogwarts. Did Dumbledore know that she was here?

"Do you want to keep it safe?" Arthur ventured, turning the coin in his pocket, trying to contact the rest of the group. If she wanted to protect it, she was going to be very annoyed by what was going to happen next.

"I want—I want the evil to be gone from it!"

"That's…That's great, because we want to get rid of the evil too. You-Know-Who put a piece of his soul in that diadem and we want to get rid of it."

Helena watched him carefully as if judging his motives.

"It is there."

She pointed a silvery see-through hand at a passageway through the mounds of junk.

"Can I trust you?"

"Have I given you a reason not to?"

Taking that as a yes, Arthur darted into the heaps of hidden objects and there it was, lying on a pile of dusty books next to a cabinet, an old bust and a dirty blonde wig. The diadem was a light silver color with sapphires imbedded in the top. Arthur pulled in down and stared at it. A shiver ran down his spine. His question of how something so beautiful could be filled with something so dark was answered. Voldemort had touched it. A bad mood swept through him, but not even a part of Voldemort's shattered soul could dampen Arthur Weasley's happiness right now. He was on the path to avenging his children.

**Reviews, please? With a cherry on top. Remember, I'll review something of yours!**


	19. Part Three: Chapter Eight

**Day Eleven 4:30 P.M.**

"So Ron—"

Harry winced slightly. Even though he had been telling the Muggle girls the stories for days now, it still hurt to say his friend's name.

"Ron was getting dragged down the tunnel by Sirius, but we didn't know at the time who he was. Hermione—"

He broke off again as Sirius sat down beside them, glad to have an excuse to stop talking. The girls were a welcome diversion from the memories and telling the stories were a great way of helping, but sometimes it was just too painful to tell. Sirius always seemed to know when it was a good time to drop in and distract them with tales from his school days. It always managed to get a laugh out of the group. Harry couldn't believe just how many detentions his father had gotten. That wasn't why he was here that day, though.

"Arthur, Molly and…well, my dear cousinshave the Horcrux. It's time for us to go meet Dumbledore."

Becca paused in her note taking to look up at him.

"You're going? Now I'm going to have to fill in the blanks myself," moaned Becca.

"Write a happy ending," suggested Harry. "The real one isn't very good."

"Yeah, but the real one has us!" Emma exclaimed.

"Can't we come too? We'll be good!" pressed Rocky.

"No," Sirius said firmly.

Sammy gave him the puppy dog eyes.

"You can help us pack," Harry offered.

Becca shook her head.

"We'd better be off. Mum's probably waiting. Oh, and we baked you some cookes."

Becca and the others ran off without so much as a goodbye, cookie bag in hand to stuff in a pack.

000

They touched down outside the cave where Dumbledore had been staying. It wasn't by any means a five star venue, but it was so well protected that you could only find it if you were given the secret and Dumbledore had removed about twelve various enchantments. The old man emerged from the cave with a smile on his face.

"You did it," he said with a smile, particularly focusing on Harry.

He looked away. Dumbledore had not been there when he, Harry, had needed him the most and he had let Ron, Hermione and Ginny die. Still, even though he felt as if he should be furious with the man, his smile and praise made Harry open up a bit. He nodded, lifting up the ring by magic to show him.

"We met four Muggle girls who warned us not to touch it. They can do magic, though."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at the mention of several Muggleborns alive and well. The other groups arrived, and those that were already there greeted Harry and his team. McGonagall surprised him immensely by wrapping an arm around his neck, but then she poured a potion on his head.

"It's an imposter sensing water—we got it at Gringotts," she explained.

"Good to know I'm not an imposter, then," Harry said sarcastically, rubbing his hair. McGonagall smiled, giving his shoulder a slight squeeze.

"Harry Potter, sir! Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby cried, bounding towards him. Hannah Abbot walked after him, lugging Nagini, fast asleep in her arms.

"How was it?" Harry asked curiously.

"Dobby won't listen to masters no—Ahh! Bad Dobby!"

Dobby ran at a tree, but Harry caught him just in time. He fell over in his dive to catch the elf. Doing so, he crashed into the bag Sirius had beside him.

"Ow!"

"Sorry," Harry said, setting Dobby on his feet and dusting himself off.

"It's okay. You didn't even touch me."

_I must be losing it, _thought Harry. _No surprise there._

Anyone would have at this point. He could have sworn he'd heard someone. He was interrupted from his thoughts by Dobby flinging himself around Harry's knees.

"Dobby heard Mr. Lupin talking, but Dobby didn't ask about it until theys were gone. Dobby joined Miss Hannah, Miss Susan and Miss Parvati instead!"

Mrs. Weasley approached him once Harry had managed to pry the elf off his legs. She hugged him tightly.

"Are you all right?"

That was the million Galleon question. He wasn't in any sense "all right", but he was better from telling the girls everything.

"Better," he answered truthfully.

Mrs. Weasley scrutinized him carefully, but she went to greet Bill without any additional questions.

Mad-Eye hurried over with a bottle in hand.

"Sorry about this, boy," he said gruffly. "It has to be done."

Harry put his hands up defensively so that he wouldn't have another strange concoction dumped on his head.  
"Professor McGonagall already did that," he said.

Mad-Eye looked suspicious, so he headed over to talk to McGonagall, leg clunking awkwardly on the grass.

Dumbledore got up from the boulder where he had been discussing something with Lupin and looked around at the strangest group of would have been students, victors, parents, werewolves, Metamorphoses, Aurors, escaped convicts, former teachers, curse breakers, house elves, and part veela the world would ever see.

"Do we have them all?"

There were scattered yeses from all around those assembled.

"Sirius, do me a favor and get the sword."

Sirius reached into the bottomless bag and drew back with a doglike yelp.

"There's something alive in there!"

"Hello!"

The group leapt back as one, fearing Death Eater attack. Becca's grinning face popped out of the bag. She hoisted herself up and out with an "oof."

"That bag is messy," she informed Sirius, as if she hadn't just popped out of a bag when she was supposed to be back in Little Hangleton.

"Becca," said Harry, exasperated. He didn't want to be responsible for the death of another child! "Why did you—"

He was cut off by the sight of Rocky's face, followed by Sammy and Emma.

"We helped find a Borcrux—" Sammy began.

"Horcrux!" hissed Emma.

"—so we figured we'd help destroy one."

Emma handed Sirius the sword of Gryffidnor. The rest of the group stared at the four Muggleborns in stunned disbelief. Dumbledore, however, took this in his stride and smiled at them.

"Who are you?"

For a minutes, Harry saw the same headmaster that had welcomed him to Hogwarts nearly eight years ago. He looked at these girls like they were first years.

"Becca and Emma Goodman and our cousins Sammy and Rocky Allistor."

Dumbledore nodded pleasantly at them, then looked towards Sirius.

"Who would like to go first?"

Molly dropped the beautiful diadem on the grassy ground.

**Cliff hanger! Review, please? I'd really like one. **


	20. Part Three: Chapter Nine

Molly dropped the beautiful diadem on the grassy ground. Sirius handed her the sword. The second she raised it, earsplitting cries split the air. Harry winced when he heard Ginny's screams rise above the rest for a second. Jessie's tortured wails were next, and for a split second, Harry was back in the arena. Jessie twisted out of his grip and he heard her cries of pain. He snapped his eyes open in time to see Mrs. Weasley utter a loud war cry and rush the diadem, which was now loudly mimicking Fred and George. Molly brought the sword down with a metallic clang. The shouts stopped with a final one of Ron's which made Harry blink quickly.

There were tears in Mrs. Weasley's eyes as well as she stepped back, the sword shaking in her grip. Becca, Rocky, Sammy and Emma sat quaking with fear on the ground.

"Are they all going to do that?" Sammy asked of no one on particular.

"I think not," Dumbledore replied.

Mrs. Weasley handed the sword off to Lee Jordan. The locket was draped on the grass.

"It must be opened," Dumbledore said, looking imploringly at Harry.

"Um…" he muttered something in Parseltouge.

The locket clicked open and mist poured out. It took the shape of Fred and George Weasley. Lee looked at them in a mixture of horror and happiness.

"Fred! George!"

They smiled at them, but it wasn't the normal smile the twins shared. There was something evil in the way they leered at Lee.

"I've missed you."

They stared. For a moment, both pairs of brown eyes flashed red, but Lee appeared not to notice.

"Why didn't you volunteer for me?" Riddle-George asked.

Lee stepped back as if he had been slapped.

"Don't listen to him!" shouted Tonks.

Lee was fixated on the twins, and didn't answer.

"I would have, but I was a mentor!"

The twins shook their heads in unison. Their eyes glinted like the eyes of cats.

"You didn't, Lee," Riddle-Fred said.

"No! I would've, I promise, George! I wouldn't leave you to die!"

He was almost sobbing now. The wind continued and the images of the twins were more distorted.

"Do it, Lee!" bellowed Lupin.

He darted forward to take the sword. Another image appeared, swirling and like the twins, distorted. James Potter. Harry reeled back, nearly falling as he stumbled away from the mirage of his father.

"Come on now, Moony," Riddle-James said sleekly. "You wouldn't want to destroy this. It's too powerful. Like he is. There's no use fighting him, Moony. Join him and he'll bring me and Lily back."

Remus gasped and backed away.

"He called me Moony," he whispered.

The sword dropped from his unresisting grip. Lee looked towards his teammates, scooped up the sword, and with a roar, he charged the locket and slammed the sword down on it. With an unimpressive sound like a deflating balloon, the winds died and the twins and James drifted away.

Dumbledore picked it up and moved it away. Sammy looked, dumbfounded, at where they had been.

"Those three…they died, didn't they?"

Becca flipped through her notebook feverishly and began to write. Harry nodded slowly. Seeing his father like that had been one of the worst experiences of his life. He could only imagine what it would have been like for Lupin and Sirius, who both had known him and felt guilty for his death.

The cup lay in the clearing now. McGonagall approached it warily, daring it to do something. She raised the sword menacingly. Nothing. She struck the cup and it bounced a few feet, defeated.

"That was Helga Hufflepuff's cup," Dumbledore explained. "Perhaps since it was one of her collection, it couldn't be tarnished by evil."

Hannah lowered Nagini on the grass. McGonagall handed the sword to Dobby. Though it was about twice his height, he hefted it above his head.

"Aiiii!" Dobby screeched.

The strength in his arms gave out when he reached the snake. The sword thudded into Nagini and the snake was dead.

"Your turn, sir," Dobby said, handing Sirius the sword.

The ring was dropped into the grass by Dumbledore, who seemed reluctant to let it go. Sirius walked towards it. The ring didn't do anything, much like Hufflepuff's cup. Dumbledore reached down as if to pluck it from the ground and rescue it, but he disguised the movement by reaching inside of his robes and fishing out a lemon drop and popping it into his mouth. Sirius got closer, as if afraid of what might happen. Harry couldn't blame him. He didn't want to know what would come out for Voldemort to torture him with either. Seeing that the ring wasn't going to cause any trouble, Sirius struck it directly on the strange marking.

Dumbledore knelt beside the ring and pried the stone out. He placed it in his pocket.

**Reviews? Thanks to QuidditchFlyer19 for pointing out to me that I accidently posted the same thing twice!**


	21. Part Three: Chapter Ten

**Day Three Hundred and Fifty Five 12:30 A.M.**

It was almost a year to the day that the Horcruxes had been destroyed, and battle was flourishing inside Hogwarts. Harry ducked and weaved with fluid grace that came with experience. They had started small; recruiting members from inside of the compound and making them part of the new army. In honor of Neville and all of the other D.A. members, they called it Dumbledore's Army. As time went on and more and more people were smuggled out of the school, Voldemort eventually worked out how they were doing it. He had caught a small group exiting and started a battle. This had escalated until every death eater and every rebellion member were fighting.

Harry was cornered, his back against two trees with three Death Eaters advancing on him.

_You want to face Voldemort _Harry reminded himself.

_But not like this! _Another part of him screamed. _Not wandless and defenseless so he can taunt you all he wants._

Just as the one Death Eater had disarmed him, a voice rang out around the grounds.

"CEASE! I order my fighters to retreat. You have lost nearly all your fighters, Harry Potter. Surrender now before me and I will stop the battle. These deaths are meaningless, Harry Potter. They need not die for you any longer. I will wait for an hour in the Entrance Courtyard, alone so you may face me. Do as you will."

The Death Eaters backed up, and the one with his wand tossed him it. Harry looked down at it disbelief. The Death Eater's mask slipped and Harry saw a girl no older than he, face utterly terrified. Terrified of him. Breathing heavily, Harry headed back for the camp in the Forbidden Forest.

Dumbledore entered the clearing along with Remus and Sirius, Sirius supporting his friend, who had a long gash on his leg. Dumbledore motioned for Harry to follow him. The pair walked through the forest, Harry on high alert and Dumbledore as calm as could be.

"Harry," he said slowly, choosing his words carefully, "I am afraid that I have not been entirely truthful with you."

Harry stopped dead in his tracks.

"There is one more Horcrux. It is you."

This time, it was his heart that stopped.

"What?"

"You must die for Voldemort to die."

Harry felt horror and fear sweep through him for a moment. Then it was replaced by relief.

"All right."

Dumbledore was the one who stopped now, turning around to look at him curiously.

"No fear. I should have known, Harry. Have this."

Dumbledore handed him the small stone that he had taken from the Horcrux a year ago. He smiled as if he hadn't kept this horrible truth from Harry. For a second, Harry got angry. Then he relaxed. He had stopped fighting long ago. It had been the drive of others that had kept him going.

Harry set out into the forest. He supposed he should be scared, but not much emotion touched him now. He pictured what Ron and Hermione would say about what he was about to do. Ron would stubbornly refuse to let him go and Hermione would search in a book for a way to extract the Horcrux clinging to him like a parasite. He closed his eyes and tried to picture it, absentmindedly fiddling with the useless stone Dumbledore had given him. When he opened his eyes, nothing had changed.

His two best friends stood in front of him and twenty others were behind them. Mouth hanging open in shock, Harry stared at them. He finally found his voice.

"You knew, didn't you?" he asked Hermione.

The spirit, echo, or whatever she was gave him a sad sort of smile.

"Of course I did. It was simple, really. The letter R."

Harry turned to Neville, who ducked his head when Harry met his eye.

"And you! Neville, I'm going to kill you."

"Voldemort took care of that," Neville said sheepishly.

Harry knew that he could see the pride in his eyes, so he turned to Ron.

"Why did you jump at that sphinx without telling me that you had a plan?"

"You would have stopped me," came the simple reply.

Having nothing to say to that, Harry swept his gaze over the crowd, but he was unable to find the person he was looking for. The truth was already lodged in his stomach like a rock, but he had to hear it.

"Where's Ginny?"

The ghosts shifted uneasily, looking at each other, willing someone else to tell him. It was Hermione who spoke up first.

"A dementor got her, Harry."

His stomach twisted even though he had already known that Ginny wouldn't have been able to return.

Ron placed what was supposed to be a comforting hand on Harry's arm, but just like Sir Nicholas's had on that September night nearly eight years previously, his hand sunk right through him. Harry felt like he'd been dumped in a bucket of ice water. Ron withdrew his hand hastily.

"I'm sorry."

The ghosts stared at him. Harry met each of their gazes unflinchingly. It was his fault that they were dead.

"For what, Harry?" asked Luna.

Harry locked eyes with her, trying to ignore Fred and George, who were shoving each other through a tree, enjoying their newfound ability.

"It's all my fault."

"Harry—" began Luna, but Harry swiftly cut her off.

"If I'd fought harder in that graveyard, if I hadn't gotten hit with that stunner…You'd be worrying about your N.E.W.T.s and—"

"There would still be seven Horcruxes," Ron said.

"That's not worth twenty-four lives!"

"Twenty-three," corrected Hermione.

"You forgot me. I lost myself as much as you did in that arena."  
Harry broke off, flopping to the ground in defeat. He'd gotten his friends back, if only for a moment, but he was more confused and lonely than ever before. A sudden chill crept up his back, but Harry assumed that it was just his own grief and guilt that his friends were not with him in the flesh. He suspected that the tiny 'what if' would echo in the back of his mind for the rest of his life, however long that would be.

"Dementors," hissed Hermione. "Get up, Harry, get up!"  
Harry struggled to his feet and held his wand out. The dementors swarmed around him.

"Think happy thoughts," Luna encouraged him.

Harry closed his eyes and saw: Ron rubbing desperately at his nose to remove the dirt smudged on it. Fred and George emerging from the Great Hall with ash on their faces and grins to match. Hermione pulling a thick book from the library shelves to reference something. Luna laughing hysterically at a joke that hadn't been that funny to begin with. Neville, grinning in the Room of Requirement. And Ginny, always Ginny. Slipping her hand into his on that dreaded platform, throwing her arms around his neck, leaning forward to kiss him.

The silver stag galloped from Harry's wand, charging the dementors and scattering them. It finally returned to him, snorting and pawing at the ground.

"Thanks, Prongs."

It vanished, and Harry turned to his friends.

"Let go of the stone," Ron ordered.

Harry clutched it even tighter.

"Come on Harry," Hermione urged.

Harry felt his grip loosen and the stone tumbled from his fingers with a final sounding thud. Harry walked on to the castle.

000

Voldemort was alone in the courtyard. Harry kept his wand as he entered. Voldemort looked up and was at his side in an instant, circling like a cat around a helpless mouse.

_No, _Harry thought, _Not helpless._

His fingers twitched on the handle of his wand. It would be so easy: just two words and his enemy would be dead.

But Voldemort wouldn't die until he did, so Harry didn't move a muscle. Voldemort continued to circle.

"Have you lost the will to live as you have lost everything else, Harry Potter?"

Harry stared straight ahead, not even moving his head to follow the dark wizard's movement.

"Answer me!"  
Still Harry paid him no mind, getting cold satisfaction from his frustration.

"Very well. I tire of our little games, Harry. You have proved yourself to be a far more interesting opponent than I ever could have guessed. Far braver than I ever would have thought, but far more foolish. Did you really think that I would spare your friends cowering in the forest?"

Harry's thoughts were not on the friends in the woods, but on the ones that existed only in the stone in the dirt on the edge of the forest.

"No matter. I am afraid that I am done with you, Harry Potter. Avada Kedavra!"

000

When Harry woke, he was not alone. Three people were gathered around him.

"Hello, Harry."

"Ginny!"

All the pain he had suffered in the past four years melted away at the sight of her face. Before he could even tell what was happening, she was in his arms and they were holding to each other so tightly it would take more than the strongest spell to separate them.

Harry slowly became aware of the other two standing there. Lily and James Potter looked on, the former's eyes filled with tears, her husband's arm around her shoulders.

Harry let go of Ginny and hugged them as well. If this was all death was, for all eternity, he would be happy. There would be time, all the time he could ever want, the time fate had stolen from him.

Harry released his parents and stepped back to stare at all of them.

"We are so proud, Harry."

James, however, looked back and forth between Harry and Ginny.

"For the love of Merlin, Harry, kiss the girl!"

Harry did, but when they separated, Ginny looked sad.

"Think of it as goodbye," she said.

"Go-Goodbye?"

"You have a choice, actually, but I will haunt you for eternity if you choose to stay."  
"Stay?" Harry echoed. Nothing had ever been more inviting. "But I'm dead. I don't have a choice."

It was Lily who answered this time.

"No you're not. The Horcrux inside of you is. I suppose it's around here somewhere, though I don't want to see it."

Harry agreed with her.

"You can stay were or go back," James said.

"I—"

His parents and Ginny were fading away into a bright pinprick of light.

000

Harry awoke with Ginny's voice in his ear.

"Don't forget me!"

How could he?

"Harry Potter is dead!" Voldemort cried.

"NO!" yelled Sirius.

Lupin was the only thing stopping him from attacking Voldemort. Harry willed him to stay where he was. He couldn't bear to lose his godfather too.

"Give up!"

Harry's fingers clutched his wand under his robes.

"Never!" Dumbledore said, blue eyes sparkling. He knew there was still hope, the tricky old man.

Harry did what no one ever expected. The Harry that had been tortured in the Little Hangleton graveyard would not have done it. If his best friends had not been killed because Voldemort wanted him broken, he wouldn't have even considered it. He was different now.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand upwards.

There was just enough time for the utter shock and fear to register in his face. Voldemort collapsed in an unimpressive heap on the ground. Harry got to his feet amid the scattering Death Eaters. Sirius flung his arms around Harry's neck.

"You did it!" he yelled.

Becca, Emma, Sammy and Rocky (all of which had joined the fight) clung to each other, screaming half in fear and half in delight. Tonks had kissed her husband, and the pair Apperated to get Teddy. Narcissa and Lucius looked absolutely shell-shocked. Bill was on one knee in front of Fleur. McGonagall and Flitwick chased Death Eaters around. Molly and Arthur were standing proudly by Bill's side. Hagrid was sobbing into a blanket. Hannah, Susan and Parvati were a volcano of laughter and happiness. Harry stood in the middle of it all with a small smile.

**The Epilogue will be up soon! Reviews? Thanks to QuidditchFlyer19 for the review!**

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	22. Epilouge

**Epilogue: September First, 2000**

Kings Cross Station was bustling with the many strange groups. Harry was among one of them, with Sirius at his side and Hedwig (who had wisely avoided all Death Eaters during Voldemort's reign) in a cage on the other. She was hooting, yellow eyes gleaming with excitement as her master toted her towards the place where she had had many adventures. Her master did not share these feelings: he would have rather stayed with Sirius in Grimmauld Place, but Dumbledore had thought otherwise. Still, Hogwarts was his home, so Harry hadn't objected as forcefully as he might have.

He and Sirius hurried through the barrier, his godfather clutching his arm more forcefully then was technically nessecary. Harry found that he kind of liked it. Sirius had been many things over the years, but father figure had never been one of the dominant ones. He had stepped up the the plate in that area over the last year though. Slowly, Hogwarts had been rebuilt, and the rest of the wizarding world came to grips with the horrors that had occured. The Games had been only one of many.

"Bye, Sirius."

Sirius pulled him into a tight hug. "Don't get into trouble-oh, who am I kidding, that much trouble. Remus is there if you need anything, and remember, I'm only a Floo away, same thing for Molly. Don't forget to write, keep your grades up, make sure you eat lots-"

Harry managed a small laugh. "I'll be fine."

Sirius released him and held him at arm's length, pride etched in his handsome face. "Be careful, all right?"

"Me, careful?"

Sirius grinned, and Harry had to smile back.

Harry sat in the Great Hall, waiting. There was Dumbledore in his usual bright colored robes (though the hangings in the hall were black), McGonagall was readying the stool, Remus was seated next to Snpe in the previously vacent DADA post and Snape was wearing his customary start of term black robes and scowl. This particular group of first years was no different than any of the others in terms of nervousness, but some of them were nearly fourteen. Among them were Sammy, Rock, Emma and Becca. McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on the stool.

_Though the last few have been grim  
This year I at last get to sing my hymn  
You stood together: The founders would be proud  
It was them who enchanted me to sing loud_

_The Gryffindors are a boisterous lot  
It is them that always fought  
_

_Ravenclaws tend to think it through  
Though their hearts are always true._

_Hufflepuffs are the most loyal  
Though from danger they won't recoil  
_

_Slytherins are the cunning kind  
Many devious plans they'll mastermind_

_So where should you go for your Hogwarts debut?  
You see, the choice is up to you  
_

_Are you brave or loyal or smart?  
Do your ingenious plans set you apart?_

_Put me on, I'll take a look  
Before I return to my cozy nook_

Harry clapped along with the rest. McGonagall unfurled the list of students.

"Allistor, Rocky?"

Rocky plunked herself down and the hat paused for a moment, then shouted:

"Gryffindor!"

"Allistor, Samantha?"

Sammy bounced up to the stool and sat down, the Sorting Hat falling around her ears. The hat thought for about a minute—

"Gryffindor!"

Flushed with happiness, Sammy sat down across from Dennis Creevey and beside her sister. The prefect smiled at her and she returned it, all the while bouncing up and down in her seat..

There were three times the amount of students this year due to Voldemort. Thus, it was a while until Emma's name was called. She looked nervous at the Hat's prolonged silence. It seemed to be deliberating.

"Hufflepuff!"

"Goodman, Rebecca!"

Becca sat down directly after her, and the hat proclaimed:

"Ravenclaw!"

Becca's face was every bit as excited as her sister's. The rest of the sorting passed in a blur for Harry. Finally, Dumbledore stood up.

"The last few years at Hogwarts have been trying. This only proves that we can become stronger. Nitwit, Oddment, Blubber, Tweak!"

Harry, Dean, Parvati, Seamus and Lavender went to their dormitory. Harry sat down on the windowsill and stared out at the same view that he had seen on his very first night at Hogwarts all those years ago. He thought about what Dumbledore had said. We can only get stronger. Things can only get better once you've hit rock bottom.

_Yes, _Harry thought, _things are looking up._

He had seen it in all of the first years' faces.

He finally had hope again.

**Thank you all so much for reading. I had so much fun writing this and I'm glad you enjoyed the story. Once again, I have to thank QuidditchFlyer14 for sticking with me, and everyone else who reveiwed. You guys are great. **

**This story was obviously inspired by the Hunger Games and what would happen if the Harry Potter characters were put in. Hopefully I managed to wrap this up in a nice fashion. Happy Potter Games, all.**


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